Nelson Agholor has been the subject of trade rumors and reports for the last couple weeks, and when the Eagles drafted Stanford receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside in the second round Friday you couldn’t help wondering if Agholor was on his way out.
Looks like he's not.
Agholor, who bounced back from a disappointing first two seasons to catch 126 passes for 1,504 yards and 12 TDs the last two years, was the Eagles’ first-round pick in 2015, but with Alshon Jeffery under contract through 2021, one-time Eagles second-round pick DeSean Jackson now in the mix and Arcega-Whiteside here for the long term, you could make the case that Agholor might be expendable.
Especially if the Eagles — with only 4th and 5th-round picks to show for the final five rounds of the draft — could recoup a draft pick or two in exchange for the 25-year-old Agholor.
But Eagles executive Vice President of Player Personnel Howie Roseman indicated late Friday night that Agholor remains an important part of the Eagles’ roster, and while he stopped short of saying the Eagles wouldn’t trade Agholor, he sure sounded like Agholor would be here.
Nelson's an important part of our football team. He’s an important part of what we're trying to do. We're really excited to have him here. He's somebody that has continued to get better and better as a player. For us, having this amount of depth and talent, it’s going to be something we’re going to need during the course of the year. It’s a long season. We’re hoping to play well into January and we’re going to need everyone. We’ve seen that the last couple years. Our depth has been a huge part of our success and so that’s our job, to make sure we give coach and his staff the depth to get through — hopefully — a 19-week season.
Agholor is playing this year on a one-year $9.387 million option year that's guaranteed, so for the Eagles to trade him the team acquiring him would virtually have to get him to agree to a new contract.
NFL
Agholor has had an interesting Eagles career, but he tends to play better than his numbers, and his three consecutive receptions for 10, 18 and 10 yards during the game-winning fourth-quarter drive in the Super Bowl forever etched his name into Eagles lore.
And judging by Roseman's comments Friday night, Agholor will have plenty more chances to build on that legacy.
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.