Philadelphia Eagles: Darius Slay is a big fan of Mike Williams, just saying

The Philadelphia Eagles need another wide receiver stat.

After effectively holding a Week 18 on-field tryout where all five of the team’s usual suspects saw action, only two wide receivers, DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins, really rose to the occasion, with the other three all falling flat for one reason or another.

Considering he was placed on IR just after the game, it’s pretty safe to say the JJ Arcega-Whiteside era of Eagles football is all over but the paperwork.

Can the Philadelphia Eagles fill that void in time for their Week 19 Wildcard bout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? No, barring a practice squad player like Deon Cain, John Hightower, or KeeSean Johnson transforming into the next Danny Amendola overnight, I sort of doubt that happens. But in the 2022 NFL calendar year? When cap space and draft pick will be in abundance? Let’s just say Darius Slay has a preference as to who he’d like to line up across from at practice.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles find their next X receiver in Los Angeles?

When it comes to receivers, Howie Roseman has specific types he targets at each position across the formation.

In the slot, he likes playmakers. He drafted Jalen Reagor to be a speedy, YAC-happy dynamo who could move all over the formation and ultimately lucked into that very sort of player 179 picks later in Quez Watkins, who played two-thirds of his snaps on the interior.

And on the outside? Well, Roseman likes two things: Size and speed.

In 2017, Roseman upgraded the professionalism of his wide receiving corps with the additions of Torrey Smith, a player the Eagles had been linked to since the Chip Kelly days, and Alshon Jeffery, the biggest name – and receiver – on the market.

Since then, the Eagles drafted JJAW to become the next Jeffery, and traded for DeSean Jackson to serve as an upgrade over Smith, but none of that really matters now. No, while the Eagles can probably get away with Smith and Watkins splitting time at the Z and flanker spots long-term, the team really doesn’t have a long-term answer at the X spot.

Enter Mike Williams, a player Darius Slay believes is going to get paid if he hits the open market this spring.

To Slay’s credit, his evaluation of Williams is spot on. Measuring in at 6-foot-4, 218 pounds with 33.4-inch arms, Williams is a big, long, former first-round wide receiver out of Clemson who put a string of early-career struggles behind him to become a reliable downfield wide receiver.

In 16 games of action as a member of the Los Angeles Chargers, Williams recorded 76 catches for 1,146 yards and nine touchdowns, and had at least one catch of 40 or more yards in half of his appearances. Despite lacking the elite speed many teams look for in a traditional deep threat, running a 4.54 40 at Clemson’s Pro Day back in 2017, Williams’ unique combination of size, speed, and length made him among the best 50-50 ball targets in the NFL and a favorite of second-year quarterback Justin Herbert.

It’s no wonder Lance Zierlein compared Williams to none other than Plaxico Burress coming out of college; he really does have a unique ability to impact a game on the outside.

Would Jalen Hurts benefit from having a big, long wide receiver who is seemingly always open on the outside? Yes, while Hurts doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his improvements as a passer, he’s still working on his deep ball and could benefit greatly from having a receiver with a massive catch radius to lower his degree of difficulty.

And how about pass catchers like DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, and even Dallas Goedert? Well, having a fourth viable receiving target, especially one who can draw serious attention from opposing defensive coordinators, could certainly free up more single coverage looks and allow the Birds to dictate their offense versus the defense, not the other way around, so yeah, I’d venture to say it would be helpful.

Really, the only negatives of adding a receiver like Mike Williams – or trading for Calvin Ridley – would show up on the Eagles’ financial ledger and on JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s snap count, assuming he actually makes it to opening day of 2022.

Between you and me, I think that exchange is justified.

In 2021, the Philadelphia Eagles are effectively an accidental playoff squad. While it would be nice to see the team give it to Tom Brady and move on to the second round, Howie Roseman didn’t go all-in on filling out his roster with win-now players and thus, hasn’t built the sort of roster needed to go all-in on a championship this January. January of 2022, by contrast, should be a completely different beast. With money to spend and draft picks abound, don’t be surprised if Howie Roseman goes out and elevates his roster’s talent level with a few upper-level performers; performers like Mike Williams.