What does Fulgham make of his strange season?

The only thing more surprising than Travis Fulgham’s emergence this season has been his complete disappearing act since.

Fulgham, a late arrival in training camp, was called up from the practice squad in Week 4 and over a five-game stretch was the leading receiver in the NFL.

Since then, his production has vanished and his playing time has continued to plummet.

This has been one of the strangest individual seasons we have ever seen.

What does Fulgham think about it?

“Yeah, I just have to stay the course,” Fulgham said. “Keep getting better every day. Keep working on my craft. Whenever the team calls on my number, I … just need to make a play for them. As regards to the drop-off, there’s only one ball to go around, so I’m not too worried about that. But when my time comes again, I’ll be ready.”

Fulgham admitted the way his season has gone recently has been “disappointing” but he still feels like he can be a productive player.

What do the Eagles have in Fulgham?

Who knows.

Because the guy from Weeks 4-8 was dynamic. And the guy from Weeks 10-now has been nearly invisible.

During that five-game stretch earlier this season, Fulgham caught 29 passes for 435 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the seven games since, he has 8 catches for 89 yards and no touchdowns. He had more catches, yards and touchdowns against Pittsburgh on Oct. 11 (10/152/1) than he has had in the last seven games.

After his 6/78/1 game against Dallas on Nov. 1, Fulgham started the next two games and was very unproductive. He caught just 2 passes on 12 targets for just 16 yards. And after that, his playing time began to plummet to the point where Fulgham in the last four weeks have averaged just 15 snaps per game.

Did the coaching staff explain to Fulgham why he wasn’t getting on the field?

“Not really,” Fulgham said. “Some guys got healthy and that’s just kind of how it goes. If they need me out there I’ll be out there. But, yeah, kind of just how the business goes.”

Yes, some players did get healthy. Jalen Reagor returned from injury first, then Alshon Jeffery and then DeSean Jackson for one game last week. But even when Reagor returned, Fulgham was playing a lot.

But Jeffery returned at the exact moment Fulgham began to struggle and the Eagles began to take away snaps from Fulgham to give them to the veteran. Maybe Jeffery was the better option but it’s fair to question that decision for a playoff push that never materialized.

It’s also worth noting that the bulk of Fulgham’s success this season came with Carson Wentz and the Eagles made a quarterback switch a few games ago.

Fulgham on Friday said he thought his practice habits were good but earlier this season comments from Doug Pederson gave enough reason to question whether or not Fulgham was doing all he could to get back on track.

Here was Pederson on Nov. 25 when asked about Fulgham’s rough two-game stretch against the Giants and Browns:

“Well, I attribute probably the lack of production for just the way that defenses are scheming him. We have seen a top defender, corner, at least go to his side of the field or at least guard him. It's something that he has to, as a young player, he has to understand because the more – and if he wants to be an elite receiver in this game, and in this league, he's going to know that's always going to be the case every week, and he really has to focus in and detail his work and practice hard and fast and just prepare himself for that. That's how you see some of the great players in this league, particularly at the receiver position, how they handle that. Just knowing that they're going to gain the respect around the league the more opportunities and the better they become.”

It’s unclear what Fulgham’s future holds but he’ll at least be back with the Eagles in training camp and there’s a good chance he’ll still be on the roster in 2021. After all, he’s under contract for next season and has a base salary of just $850,000 with a cap hit to match.

Fulgham said he hopes to be a part of the Eagles’ future.

“Yes, I mean, we haven’t talked anything about that, but I like to think I am. But again, I just have to control what I can control. Just bring the same attitude every day and hope for the best.”

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