Is Avant Truly the #3 Receiver?

Last year, fourth-round draft pick Jason Avant ended up behind undrafted free agent Hank Baskett on the Eagles' crowded wide receiver depth chart.  He caught only seven balls on the season -- four of which came against Atlanta in the meaningless finale -- and generally wasn't a part of the offense.

However, the story out of this year's preseason is that Avant has overtaken Baskett and looks set to be the Eagles #3 wideout:

Jason Avant's ascension to the third wideout spot is all but official. It has more to do with Avant's training-camp performance than with anything incumbent Hank Baskett has done wrong. Avant, a second-year player, might have been the Birds' best wideout this summer.

"He's a big, strong guy that has a real good change of direction," Reid said after the Pittsburgh game,...  "He knows how to use his body in there," Reid said. "He didn't have a drop the whole time we were up at Lehigh, and he's kind of maintained that through the games. He's done a nice job."

Now all of that may be true, but I have a feeling this is more about role than preseason performance.  Baskett isn't really a slot receiver.  He's a deceptively fast long-strider who had the two longest touchdown receptions in the NFL last season.  Because Donte Stallworth was hurt a lot last year, Baskett had plenty of opportunities to substitute in on the outside. 

Avant, on the other hand, is a natural slot receiver.  He's big and strong, and he has the kind of ball-vacuuming hands that quarterbacks look for on third down. 

If the Eagles hadn't signed Kevin Curtis in the off-season, I think it's pretty much a given that Baskett would be the starter right now.  Avant may not have the true top-end speed you're looking for in an every-down outside receiver.  But because the Eagles did sign Curtis -- and because they think he works as an outside guy in their system, even though he played the slot in St. Louis -- the need on this team is for the slot.  Therefore, Avant is the guy.

It would be interesting to see what happened if -- knock on wood -- one of the two starters were to get hurt.  If they just moved Avant into the starting lineup and kept him out there most of the time, that would suggest I was wrong, and he really had moved past Baskett.  If they did a lot more mix-and-match, and didn't use Avant much on the outside, then that would suggest we had this one right.

Hopefully, we won't have to find out.

Comments

[whoismariowilliams]

Is Curtis faster than Baskett? The few times that I've seen McNabb air it out in the preseason, he's overthrown Curtis by about 3 yards each time. Was Stallworth catching all of those balls last year or is McNabb just a little off?

[Me]

I’ve noticed that too. I think it’s that Curtis is a little slower than he's expecting, because Curtis hasn’t had great separation on those passes, more like just a step.

[McTumms]

I've observed it, also, so I've watched Curtis closely to see what was up. Curtis's speed looks legit to me, but the way it manifests gives DBs a chance to recover on his deep routes. His initial acceleration is amazing. Watch him come off the line; it's really something. If a CB gets a even little sloppy in his technique, Curtis will kill him, even if he has to overcome a big cushion to do so. That initial burst makes him a nightmare for a defense in the short-to-intermediate game, which seems to have been his forte in St. Louis. But he doesn't appear to have Stallworth's extra gear to get separation late and close on a ball already in the air. In short, he'll be very productive--likely more so than Stallworth would have been (better hands, healthier)--but he isn't a Stallworth-level threat deep. I wish we had them both. (By the way, McNabb sold Curtis out on that short, goal-to-go slant in the Steelers game. That ball had to be low, and while McNabb had the lane to throw it low, he got it in there high.)

[BleedingGreenNation]

I'm rotting for Avant for one simple reason. So the 2 #81 jerseys I own don't go completely to waste. If Avant makes something of himself, I'm going to buy one of those Avant nameplates on ebay...