The idea, as Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman says from his office in the Jefferson Health Training Complex, is this as he is explaining last week's move to acquire wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks from the Green Bay Packers: Add talent and build depth at the position and give the offensive coaching staff all the possibilities to create favorable matchups.
It was, as the Eagles outlined their offseason plans, a priority to deepen the talent pool and broaden the skill set in that room.
"You see that Green Bay has had tremendous depth at the receiver position, he played well in our game (4 receptions, 38 yards on eight targets) and we had advanced scouted him and had looked at him through the years and, obviously, a really productive guy," Roseman said on Tuesday, following his pre-2026 NFL Draft press conference held in conjunction with Head Coach Nick Sirianni. "But we're also in a situation where you feel like you have inside knowledge about what the player is like to live with. Obviously, Ryan (Mahaffey, Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends coach) had been with him as his position coach (in Green Bay), Sean (Mannion, offensive coordinator) had been with him on the offensive staff. You take away the risk of bringing in someone you don't know when you have people who know him and who have worked with him.
"You see his skill set. He is a physical, explosive player at the top of routes. He can play inside or out, so he is guy we had our eye on."
Said Sirianni: "He's able to separate at the top of the route, and I think his toughness really shows up on tape. Again, when you can create that type of separation, we obviously get really excited about that, really excited to add him to that room."
"That room" is now in prime shape with veteran Eagles A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith leading the way and offseason additions – all veterans, too – Hollywood Brown, Wicks, and Elijah Moore – bringing their skill sets to the mix. The Eagles also think that second-year man Darius Cooper will make a big leap, they want to see young receiver Johnny Wilson healthy, they know Britain Covey is an accomplished return man and reliable receiver, and there is more veteran experience with Danny Gray and Quez Watkins looking to open eyes in the spring and summer.
Talent, talent, talent. Depth, depth, depth. That's what this roster-building period is all about.
"When you look at our receiver room over the last couple of years, we've probably been fortunate about the depth that we haven't really had to dive into," Roseman said. "Just studying the league and seeing how many teams can go pretty deep in their receiver room, that was one of the priorities going into this offseason: Increasing the depth and quality of talent in the receiver room, throughout the room."
Mission accomplished. Wide receiver, as always, will be a position to watch when the players get on the field in Training Camp and for the preseason games.
