Over the past few weeks, Eagles coach Chip Kelly has traded for his starting quarterback, patched up his secondary with a major free-agent corner and replaced LeSean McCoy with two separate Pro Bowl running backs.
One area he hasn’t fixed is wide receiver, which took a big hit when Pro Bowler Jeremy Maclin left to accept Andy Reid’s boatload of cash in Kansas City.
Maclin, coming off his best season, was the team’s unquestioned No. 1 receiver. His departure one year after the team cut ties with DeSean Jackson has left Kelly’s offense sorely lacking in vertical weapons on the perimeter.
But if you’re looking for Kelly to patch up the position with marquee free-agent talent like he did with running back and cornerback, you’ll be disappointed.
“I don’t know if we can,” Kelly said Thursday. “If not, we think in terms of our model that it’s a really good draft for wide receivers. We also have a lot of confidence in some of the guys we have — Jordan Matthews had an outstanding year for us as a rookie, he’s going into Year 2. Josh Huff, we got a lot of high expectations for Josh, we’re excited about him.
“We have Riley Cooper back. We also have some tight ends that have a lot of flexibility. Zach Ertz was a multi-position player for us and we also have ... a Swiss Army knife in Darren Sproles that we can use in a lot of different ways.
“But again, we do think the draft is very talented from a wide receiver standpoint. So we’ll take a real good hard look at that also.”
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Gambling on draft picks to play vital roles in their first season is risky, as the Eagles found out last year with first-round pick Marcus Smith and third-rounder Huff.
But the pool of remaining free-agent wideouts is littered with guys who either don’t seemingly fit Kelly’s locker-room culture or his preference for size and length on the outside.
Given Percy Harvin’s size and reputation, he hardly seems like Kelly’s kind of guy. Neither does Eagle-killer Kenny Britt, who’s had several legal issues in the past.
Michael Crabtree has nice size (6-2, 210) but the seventh-year pro has just one 1,000-yard season and could be outpriced on the market. Same deal with the recently released Dwayne Bowe (6-2, 220), an underperformer for the past three seasons.
Stevie Johnson’s (6-2, 210) numbers are way, way down over the past two seasons compared to his best days in Buffalo. Johnson’s next team will be his third in three seasons.
This year’s draft class isn’t on the same level of last year’s star-studded crop, but scouts and analysts still believe wide receiver is one of the draft’s strongest and deepest positions.
Among the potentials are All-America wideout Amari Cooper, West Virginia’s Kevin White, Ohio State speedster Devin Smith, Philly native Jaelen Strong from Arizona State and several others profiled here.
Kelly also has another starting safety spot to fill, either in-house or through the market or draft. Nate Allen, who started last year opposite Malcolm Jenkins, wasn't expected to return and signed with the Raiders on Thursday.
But Kelly said the Eagles aren’t done with their offseason makeover. He mentioned “other opportunities” to upgrade the roster, possibly foreshadowing another trade.
“We have the draft coming up and other opportunities,” he said. “We feel very comfortable where we are. But again, it’s March. We still have the draft. We still have a lot of other opportunities before to add to this football team. This isn’t the final product in terms of putting 90 guys together.”