Eagles

Super Bowl LIX Comparisons: Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

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AJ Brown Catches Touchdown In Super Bowl LVII

Leading up to the Philadelphia Eagles rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans, Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will compare the personnel of the two teams each day until gameday is here.

In this edition of our week-long comparison, we will look at the pass catchers that the Eagles and Chiefs will field for the big game.


Philadelphia WRs & TEs | Devonta Smith, AJ Brown, Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson, Parris Campbell, Ainias Smith, Dallas Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, E.J. Jenkins

AJ Brown is once again second-team All-Pro with 1079 yards in just 13 games during the regular season (353 after the catch), catching seven touchdowns and moving the chains 51 times. Smith has 833 yards (299 after the catch) with eight touchdowns and 42 first downs, also in just 13 games. They are perhaps the best one-two combo at the position in the league.

Jahan Dotson is an interesting case as the third receiver on this team that has more talent than he can show with his utter lack of targets and the team often using someone like Smith for the screens that’d be better suited for Dotson. He has only 19 receptions on the season (216 yards, 72 after the catch), but 12 of them moved the chains. He’s typically the fifth or sixth pass catching option for the Birds, particularly when Dallas Goedert is active as the tight end has 496 yards despite playing only 10 games. That comes with 20 first downs thanks to his 257 yards after the catch. He’s been heavily targeted in the playoff run, putting up 188 yards and a touchdown over the past few weeks with his best game coming in the NFC Championship.

Grant Calcaterra has spent roughly a third of the season being the team’s top tight end due to injuries. He has 298 yards and is an effective pass catcher who’s moved the chains 15 times himself. That said, he has shown many times to be a total liability when asked to block. In the passing game, he can be an effective weapon, however, and as a college teammate of Hurts he seems to have the trust that gets him looks before players like Dotson receive any attention for the Eagles signal caller.

Rookie Johnny Wilson is rarely targeted and more frequently used as a blocker due to his large stature. Parris Campbell remains with the team and has been mostly used as the fourth option when injuries sideline one of the top receivers. EJ Jenkins may or may not be active for the game (depending on the status of CJ Uzomah), but has been used for blocking only outside garbage time. Anias Smith was a gameday inactive in the NFC Championship and likely will be again in the big game.


Kansas City WRs & TEs | DeAndre Hopkins, Xavier Worthy, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown, Justin Watson, Nikko Remigio, Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Peyton Hendershot

The primary receiving threat for the Chiefs is tight end Travis Kelce. The 12-year veteran lead the team with 823 receiving yards during the regular season, moving the chains 47 times and scoring three touchdowns. It was his worst year since 2014, but he’s still finding ways to hurt opponents and keep the Chiefs in position to win games. He’s an all-time leader in postseason catches and has 136 yards and a touchdown over the past two games for Kansas City.

Xavier Worthy serves as the team’s top option at receiver. Unlike Hopkins, Worthy has speed to break loose, making him the team’s WR leader in yards (638) and overall leader in yards after the catch (407). They also like to use his speed for runs, where he’s added another 104 yards for the team. He’s the kind of player who the Eagles could keep in check easily if they keep him close and make tackles, but he’s able to run when guys fail to wrap up. With 130 yards over the last two games (65, or 50%, YAC), he and Kelce have been the primary drivers for the passing game.

The wide receiver room is a lot of big names, but not too much production otherwise. DeAndre Hopkins was one of the best receivers in the league but hasn’t been the same player since 2020. Despite a steep decline in his production, he’s the team’s second receiver (overall) on the season with 610 yards. Only 437 of those (four touchdowns and 25 first downs) came after his midseason trade to KC from the Titans, but he was able to put up larger numbers in the Kansas City offense. That has not been the case in the past two games, where he has just 11 yards.

JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown were both big names at one point or another, but neither has produced like it. Brown does have an excuse due to an injury limiting him to just two games in the regular season (he has 35 yards the last two weeks), but Smith-Schuster has just not gotten the targets. He has 231 yards on 26 targets and 60 yards over the last two games on two targets, but just has not been a focus despite his being available and appearing in 14 games.

Noah Gray isn’t much of a threat in the passing game, but he should be in for a lot of snaps as the team uses him heavily as a blocker.

Hollywood Brown missed most of the season and hasn’t been more than an occasional rotational guy since his return. Justin Watson is a special teamer for the most part as is Hendershot. Nikko Remigio is often a gameday inactive.


Edge:

AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith are easily head and heels the best receivers on these rosters. It’s possible a truly healthy and game-ready Marquise Brown could help close that game, but the rookie Worthy is really the only other option that is probably preferable to Jahan Dotson (who serves as the Eagles WR3 and probably just the sixth receiving target overall). The only thing that would be going for KC is that Kelce may be the leagues top tight end. Kelce is aging fast, however, and it doesn’t seem like too much of a drop off from the current Kelce to a healthy Goedert. That gap certainly isn’t as large as the one the Eagles receivers have over the entire Chiefs receiver room, so the nod here has to go to Philly. 


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