Let’s get it back to the Eagles.

Today we’ve got a list of the NFL’s top 25 wide receivers at The Sporting News, which was brought to my attention by NJ.Com’s Zack Rosenblatt.

The top five of this list makes sense to me. They’ve got DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Odell Beckham Jr., and Antonio Brown in there. Rounding out the top ten it’s Keenan Allen, Davante Adams, JuJu Smith-Schuster, A.J. Green, and Adam Thielen.

I kept scrolling down the list, looking for Alshon Jeffery, and… nope. He’s not even on there.

Here’s what they came up with for 11 through 25:

  • 11 – Stefon Diggs
  • 12 – T.Y. Hilton
  • 13 – Mike Evans
  • 14 – Julian Edelman
  • 15 – Robert Woods
  • 16 – Tyler Boyd
  • 17 – Tyler Lockett
  • 18 – Jarvis Landry
  • 19 – Amari Cooper
  • 20 – Mike Williams
  • 21 – Brandin Cooks
  • 22 – Kenny Golladay
  • 23 – Chris Godwin
  • 24 – D.J. Moore
  • 25 – Cooper Kupp

Hmmm… yeah…. I dunno.

Problem with Alshon is that he doesn’t light it up in the raw numbers department. He played 13 games last year, catching 65 balls for 843 yards and 6 touchdowns.

That doesn’t really stack up against some of the newer/surprise names on the list, via Pro Football Reference:

Where Alshon does excel is in tight-window situations, which are backed by advanced stats.

For example, this past season, he only had an average separation of 2.5 yards per target, yet caught 70.6% of the passes thrown his way. Godwin, for instance, had a 2.6 SEP number with a 62% catch rate. Boyd and Moore’s numbers are also slightly lower, while Williams had a smaller SEP but caught fewer balls. Brandin Cooks had lesser advanced numbers as well.

Of course, you have to factor in who is actually throwing the ball, what kind of offense you run, how tough your division is, and all of that stuff. Is your coach good? Is he Adam Gase? Can your defense actually get off the field?

Without going too deep into it, I’m pretty confident Alshon is still a top 25 receiver in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.