Eagles not getting much production from wide receivers

Jordan Matthews has 22 catches for 231 yards — more than respectable for the second-year pass catcher through three games.

But it’s more than all the Eagles’ other receivers combined.

Should the team be concerned?

“When we play our best, the ball is spread around to all the skill players,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said.

The team has gotten plenty of production from the running backs in the pass game, with the trio of DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles combining for 29 receptions, but if the Eagles intend to go vertical at all with an offense that did so routinely during the first two years of Chip Kelly’s tenure, they’ll need to get guys like Josh Huff and Nelson Agholor involved.

Agholor, the Eagles first-round pick this June, has just four catches in three games.

“He’s just got to keep grinding through it,” Shurmur said. “I think there’s a lot of similarities to his game if you compare it to Jordan Matthews a year ago. You know, he was kind of grinding it out and we were all asking questions, ‘When is it going to happen? When is it going to happen?’ And boom, he had a game where he had a good bunch of production.

“There’s no real easy answer there. You’ve just got to grind through it. But he’s doing all the right things. He can run all day long. He can be on the field without coming out. He’s a tough guy. Catches the ball well and I think he’s just got to keep playing and the production will come his way.”

He’s not wrong. Matthews had just 226 receiving yards in his first four games before tallying 646 in his final ten contests.

Perhaps Agholor will become more of a threat as the season goes along as his mentor Matthews before him. And perhaps, as Shurmur predicts, the rest of the receiving corps will get in on the action too.

“Sometimes there’s one guy getting more production than another within a game,” Shurmur said, looking back at the Eagles 24-17 win over the Jets that saw Matthews as the only wideout to catch a pass.”But as we go along here, I think the balls will get spread around.”