Jay Cutler says no one should worry about Alshon Jeffery

Eagles, Alshon Jeffery played entire season, Super Bowl with torn rotator cuff
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Alshon Jeffery wasn’t at his best in the Eagles’ second preseason game against the Bills.

A few days after making his Philly debut, Eagles quarterback coach Mike Groh said of Jeffery: “I think he’s behind. Anytime you miss the amount of time he did. He’s a little bit behind but fortunately, we have time for him to catch up on all that.”

But Jeffery doesn’t buy into the analysis offered by Groh, who also coach Jeffery in Chicago. He minimized the time he missed, mostly due to a nagging shoulder injury, saying “I’ll be alright.”

In town for the Eagles joint practices with the Dolphins, the quarterback who knows Jeffery better than any other echoed the support for Jeffery.

“He’ll be fine,” Cutler, who left a potential commentary job with Fox to return to the field to replace injured Ryan Tannehill with Miami, said. “I don’t know what’s going on here or where he is in the system, but as long as he’s healthy he’s going to produce. He knows football, if he’s healthy that wouldn’t be a guy I would worry about.”

Cutler was Jeffery’s quarterback — when healthy — for his entire time in Chicago, logging nine seasons under center for the Bears. He knows about Jeffery’s catch radius, and also knows Jeffery is a fine physical specimen and a gifted football mind.

“He’s super smart, knows football, has great feel,” Cutler said. “I think he’s one of those natural guys who knows where the ball should be thrown, natural hands, can throw a block… When he’s heathy and rolling he’s one of the best out there.”

Another Dolphin, cornerback Byron Maxwell, got his first taste covering Jeffery and also was impressed.

“He’s very physical getting off the line,” Maxwell, who played in Philly for one season before being traded to Miami in 2016 said. “Philadelphia, they have three different receivers that can do different things [in Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor].”