He's already viewed as the likely Offensive Rookie of the Year winner.
High praise to be sure, but is Philadelphia Eagles first-round pick Nelson Agholor, despite having yet to play a down in the NFL, also an upgrade on a player who just last season nabbed 85 receptions, 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns in head coach Chip Kelly's offense?
"That was a great pick right there," a director of college scouting for an AFC team told Geoff Mosher of CSN Philly. "I'll say this: He's an upgrade to [Jeremy] Maclin. I just think he's a better route-runner. I'm not going to say as fast, but he's just as quick, better hands, body control. I'm saying from rookie [Agholor] to rookie [Maclin]. Nothing against Maclin. Ahgolor is a way better punt returner. The kid reminded me of a more athletic [former USC wideout] Robert Woods. Would it shock you if he had more yards than [No. 3 overall pick] Amari Cooper? You can make the case [Agholor] is the odds-on favorite to lead rookies in receiving this year."
It's ridiculous to project a rookie who hasn't hit a professional practice field or caught a preseason pass to outdo the numbers that Maclin posted last year en route to the first Pro Bowl berth of his career, but the opinion that Agholor will light it up in Kelly's offense seems to be one shared by personnel men across the league.
"You could probably talk to the whole league [and you'd find out] this was a guy that early in the process everyone thought was really good and categorized in the second round, but he parlayed everything together," a pro and college scout for an AFC team said, per Mosher. "He had an excellent combine workout and really, really good pro day workout. Once you got past the first three receivers, it was apples and oranges, who do you like better? Nelson Agholor was our fourth receiver. I don't think he would have made it out of the first round. I thought he was better than Marqise Lee and Robert Woods, definitely thought he was better than those guys. He's gonna put up some pretty big numbers in that offense."
Agholor, 6-foot, 198-pounds, doesn't seem to fit Kelly's stated preference for bigger people who can beat up littler people, but he's got very similar dimensions to Maclin who, as stated above, broke out last year under Kelly.
With Maclin off to the Kansas City Chiefs via a massive free agent contract, Agholor seems to have little impediment to a starting spot alongside last year's draft picks Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff at receiver for the Eagles.
Whether he can meet the massive expectations that have already developed in the wake of the draft remains to be seen and will be fun to watch.
