As a first-round pick, the expectation is that Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor will make a pretty significant impact during his first professional season. Agholor, 22, finished his final season at USC with 104 receptions for 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns and enters a young Philly receiving group with the highest draft pedigree of the bunch, so the expectations for him to produce immediately make sense.
Beyond Agholor though, questions remain. Will Riley Cooper bounce back from a down 2014 and make good on his hefty contract extension? Can special teams ace Seyi Ajirotutu make an impact on the offense? Will veteran Miles Austin overcome the kidney injury that cut short his 2014 season and Browns tenure? Can Jordan Matthews expand on a promising rookie season and will Josh Huff erase a disappointing one?
These questions and more will need answering if the Eagles are to adequately replace the contributions of Jeremy Maclin next year.
While Agholor will bear much of the media focus this offseason, it seems that thus far in Eagles offseason work another receiver has been creating quite a buzz. According to a recent report from Geoff Mosher of CSN Philly, undrafted free agent Rasheed Bailey has turned several heads already at OTAs and minicamp.
"The rookie free agent who has generated the most buzz around the Eagles throughout camp is, without a doubt, wide receiver Rasheed Bailey," writes Mosher.
"The other day, Mark Sanchez singled out the former Delaware Valley star first when asked about any of the receivers -- not just rookies -- who have impressed him."
Bailey, a Roxborough native, played collegiately at Division III Delaware Valley. He led all DIII receivers in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and touchdowns in 2014 after he managed 80 receptions for 1,707 yards and 19 touchdowns.
"I have that drive, that passion, everything that Philly is," said Bailey after he signed with the Eagles, via Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "I wear a chip on my shoulder coming from a small school, and having been a fan to now being a player, I wear it every day."
Despite making a major mark at Delaware Valley, Bailey sounds like a guy who knows his journey as a football player has only just begun.
"I still have a lot to prove, even though I had a number of records. I have to prove it on another level and that's why I'm here," Bailey said. "I'm preparing myself for a fight. I'll let my play do the talking, not the numbers."
If Mosher's report is accurate, it sure seems that Bailey has been doing a lot of talking with his play already. While there's a long time to go until the season and it's become something of a running joke that every offseason a training camp darling emerges only to then fall short of making a significant impact during the year, the NFL also always seems to annually produce a small handful of undrafted free agents who create and then live up to the hype.
Bailey, 6-foot-2, 205-pounds, has a tough battle ahead of him to nab one of likely six receiver spots for the Eagles, but at the very least, he seems to have already made some good headway with players and coaches alike.
