March 29, 2024
Former Philadelphia Eagles receivers Quez Watkins and Olamide Zaccheaus have found new homes. Watkins is signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Zaccheaus is reportedly signing with Washington Commanders.
Watkins showed promise as a rookie and he made significant strides in his second season in 2021 when he was the No. 2 wide receiver. Since then, his career went backwards.
In 2022, after the addition of A.J. Brown, Watkins became the No. 3 receiver, and he left too many plays on the field, including a big one in the Super Bowl. In 2023, that trend accelerated. He finished with just 15 catches for 142 yards (under 10 YPC), and 1 TD, with a long reception of 19 yards. Jalen Hurts was picked off twice when targeting Watkins. Watkins also missed seven games with injuries, and late in the season was demoted to WR5.
Watkins has speed, which is a valuable commodity that in theory opposing defenses have to respect even if the ball isn't going his way. However, he couldn't prove that he could make plays down the field, and thus didn't do much to open up opportunities for guys like Brown, Smith, and Dallas Goedert in the intermediate areas of the field.
Watkins was given far too many chances by the coaching staff to become a positive contributor in the offense, when it was pretty clear to the media and fan base that bad things happened when the ball went his way. The staff seemed to have finally seen what was clear to even casual observers when they benched him late in the season. The team's lack of interest in retaining him was not surprising.
Zacchaeus didn't have impressive stats in his lone season in Philly (10-164-2), but he was reasonably efficient when the ball went his way, as Eagles quarterbacks had an 111.2 passer rating when they targeted him. He was the most effective of the Eagles' backup receivers, in my opinion, and yet was probably underused.
While he played the third-most snaps among the receivers, Zaccheaus was typically out-snapped by Watkins when he was healthy, and by Julio Jones in the second half of the season.
It is unknown if the Eagles had interest in bringing Zaccheaus back for the 2024 season. It certainly wouldn't be surprising if Zaccheaus had no interest in returning to the Eagles when the staff somehow thought that Watkins was deserving of more playing time.
The Eagles signed DeVante Parker and Parris Campbell at wide receiver this offseason.
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