Horned Frogs OC: Despite Questions, Reagor’s Hands Not Issue

With less than two weeks to go before the 2020 NFL Draft, teams begin to wrap up the final stages of the evaluation process.

Big boards are solidified, testing is verified, and, by now, prospects of interest have been identified.
The Philadelphia Eagles have been active participants in the free-agent frenzy, fortifying defensive voids and retaining key contributors.

Though the team has done an admirable job bolstering most areas of concern, the cupboard remains bare at wide receiver, leaving the Eagles with little room for error on draft day.

Former TCU pass-catcher Jalen Reagor, one of the premier deep threats in this class, could feasibly be in play when the Eagles are on the clock. The 5-foot-11, 206-pound receiver is coming off a down year, for a variety of reasons, but possesses the innate explosiveness, ability to manufacture yards after the catch, and speed to stretch defenses vertically to ignite a largely lethargic Philadelphia offense.

Here’s a Q&A with Reagor’s college offensive coordinator, Sonny Cumbie:

Q. What are some initial challenges Jalen had to overcome?

A. “As is the case with all young players, just consistency. As good as he is and ended up being as a junior, as a true freshman, he was more of a 30-to-35 play guy. We set special touches up for him. He ended up developing as a sophomore and a junior.”

Q. What are Jalen’s strengths?

A. “His explosiveness, his speed – he has the initial burst that everybody sees on film. He has really good ball skills. I think he catches the ball well with his hands, I know there’s some questions about that, but just being around him day in and day out, [drops] never really were an issue for us. He’s a good route-runner, he can run all the routes — there’s not a route out there that he can’t get in and out of his breaks.”

Q. What are some of Jalen’s areas for improvement?

A. “Really, the one weakness, is at the line of scrimmage, against guys with some length. That’s the one thing where people would get him at times, guys that were a little longer at the line of scrimmage in their arms, and would get their hands on him.”

Q. What kind of immediate impact can he make?

A. [Reagor’s] pretty smart football-wise. I’m not saying that Day 1, the first weeks of the season, that he’ll show up and light the world on fire, but he’ll be able to pick up what people are doing on offense pretty quickly.”

Q. Why was his 2019 season not as good as 2018?

A. “Nobody on offense really played that well for us last year. It was a tough season, a lot of moving parts on the O-line, you’re playing a young quarterback, and really just trying to figure out the strengths and weakness of everybody. [Reagor] gave us a chance to be explosive and make plays, and you noticed during the season, when we would get on runs, he would be a big reason why.”

Q. What would you consider to be Jalen’s best route?

A. “He runs a really good, what we call, ‘China corner’. Stem inside 5 yards, vertical for 10, and then at 15, stick for the corner. Good double move runner, too.”

-Andrew DiCecco (@ADiCeccoNFL) is a contributor to InsideTheBirds.com. He also writes for Pro Football Network.

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