The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t stop making moves to fill out their wide receivers room in 2024 until just a few weeks before the regular season. That was actually a pretty significant move, sending a 2025 third round pick and a pair of 2025 seventh round picks to the Washington Commanders in exchange for wide receiver Jahan Dotson and a 2025 fifth round pick.
The Eagles made the move for Dotson, a former first round pick, in the hopes he’d be a serviceable WR3 option behind stars A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. While Dotson didn’t pan out during the regular season, he mostly made up for it by playing his best football in the postseason as the Eagles rolled to a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
Even with how good Dotson looked in the playoffs, it would be foolhardy to think of him as a reliable WR3 option in 2025 — he played all 17 games in the regular season and only had 19 receptions for 216 yards and no touchdowns. Even more concerning for the Eagles was Dotson’s 19 catches came on 33 targets, showing his continued proclivity to drop passes.
The Eagles declined the fifth year option on Dotson’s contract on April 23 and, while they didn’t take any wide receivers in the 2025 NFL draft, they should still look to make moves to improve a pressing issue with the vacant WR3 spot.
At this point, that help would have to come in the form of a trade or a free agent signing. To that end, Philadelphia could get great value right now by signing veteran free agent wide receiver D.J. Chark.
Chark Could Be Primed for Bounceback Season
Chark is coming off a frustrating season with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he only played in 7 games and had career lows in reception (4) and receiving yards (31) while dealing with a shoulder injury.
With Chark, the Eagles could get a player primed for a big year and one, unlike Dotson, who has proven he can be an impact player in the past. Chark earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2019 with the Jacksonville Jaguars after catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and 8 touchdowns.
While Chark hasn’t matched those heights in the ensuing years, what he has been is a consistent producer, with over 500 receiving yards in 3 of the next 4 seasons, and the one season he didn’t hit that mark he only played in 4 games after he fractured his ankle in Week 4.
In his last complete season, in 2023 with the Carolina Panthers, Chark had 35 receptions for 525 yards and 15 touchdowns in 15 games.
Another important thing for Eagles? Chark won’t cost them an arm and a leg. He played for the Chargers in 2024 on a 1-year, $3 million contract and for the Panthers in 2023 on a 1-year, $5 million contract.
The Eagles might start with a 1-year, $1.8 million offer and see where that goes.
Eagles Have Shied Away From Drafting WRs
The Eagles’ still needing a WR3 are essentially champagne problems. That’s because Brown and Smith are widely thought of as 2 of the Top 10 wide receivers in the NFL.
Beyond that, the Eagles have only drafted one wide receiver in the last 4 years, with 2024 fifth round pick (No. 152 overall) Ainias Smith, who only had 7 receptions for 41 yards and 1 touchdown in 7 games as a rookie.
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