The Philadelphia Eagles got rid of DeSean Jackson and now Chip Kelly may look at names like Kelvin Benjamin, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham and Marqise Lee as potential replacements for him heading into 2014, as the wide receiver position in the draft is very deep this year and despite trading for Darren Sproles, the team could be ready to add more on offense for Nick Foles.
The Eagles got rid of Jackson after he had the best season of his career and now they will need to replace his production, which had 82 catches for over 1,300 yards and nine touchdowns and while Sproles will help that, he is still just a running back and is not the explosive receiver that Jackson was. Having Sproles will help with receptions, stretching the field and getting LeSean McCoy some rest, but the team will need more behind Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper after those two were brought back by Kelly and now Jackson is with the Redskins.
The draft this year has a deep class of receivers and someone like Brandin Cooks could be an option to replace Jackson, as he was wildly productive last year at Oregon State and also has blazing speed. Cooks has a similar build like Jackson and he went for 128 catches last season for over 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns and that is the type of player that Kelly loves. Clearly he did not like Jackson enough to keep him and while that will hurt the team in the short term, he may feel that it was worth it to rid someone he felt could hurt the locker room overall.
Part of that may have to do with the deep class in the draft, which includes Beckham from LSU. According to ESPN.com, Beckham is visiting with the Eagles before the draft and he comes in as someone that can replace Jackson as well, as he is 5-foot-11, 200-pounds and put up a sub 4.45 forty yard dash at the combine and that is some solid speed. At LSU he was productive with teammate Jarvis Landry and he went for 59 receptions for 1,152 yards and eight touchdowns and that could be a good fit for both sides heading into 2014, as he is expected to be there at number 22.
The Eagles could trade up for someone like Mike Evans, but right now he looks to be out of reach, as many have him in the top 10 of the draft in mocks. The team could look at names like Lee and Kelvin Benjamin as well, as Lee is considered to be a mid-first round pick, while Benjamin is predicted to go later in the round. Benjamin is a big dude and he got high grades from eagles homer Ron Jaworski and he could be in the mix as well. Benjamin could be a great red zone target and he comes in after going for 54 catches for 1,011 yards receiving and 15 touchdowns with the national champions and he of course made the winning catch in that game and at 6-foot-6, he would be a matchup nightmare.