“I feel confident that I will be [a starter],” Rueben Randle said in his news conference this week. “That’s for me to go out there and prove.”
Randle definitely has something to prove. He’s a former second-round pick, who is going into his fifth season, but the Birds only guaranteed him $500,000 of his contract and he will make only $3 million dollars if he reaches all of incentives. That’s a slap in the face to a player, who has put up the numbers that Randle has.
It’s very simple, the NFL does not have very much respect for Randle. The fact that he’s not still with the Giants means Eli Manning lost confidence in him. Last year, Manning targeted him 90 times and only 57 of those passes were completed. That’s not good. Randle has to do a better job of running good routes and coming down with the football, when it hits his hands.
The former Giants wide receiver has much more experience than his Eagles wide receiver teammates and he plans on taking advantage of it. Randle will be competing for a starting job and playing time against the team’s best receiver Jordan Matthews, last year’s number one pick Nelson Agholor, third-year disappointment and former third-round pick Josh Huff, and free agent pick up and deep threat Chris Givens.
I think Randle has a good chance to be a starter, as long as the Eagles include three wide outs amongst their starters. If it’s just two wide receiver starters, Randle and Agholor will likely be battling it out for the starting spot with Matthews getting the other starting spot.
Randle hasn’t been a bad player, but he hasn’t been nearly as consistent as the Giants would have liked him to be when they drafted him out of LSU in the second-round in 2012. He has been a solid starter for the Giants in his four-years, yet the Eagles were able to sign him for peanuts, when you consider.
Look at the guys numbers while playing on the other side away from Odell Beckham Jr. He has played four years and been able to play in each game of his four seasons. That’s means the guy isn’t injury-prone.
Last year, he caught 57 passes for 797 yards and eight touchdowns. Yes, eight touchdowns, which will help the Eagles because they’ve got to improve their effectiveness in the Red Zone. Those stats aren’t great, but the Eagles could have definitely used them a year ago.
In 2014, Randle had his best year while catching 71 passes for 938 yards and three touchdowns.
Josh Gordon, if the rumors are true via Adam Schefter, that the Eagles WILL make a deal for him to the Browns, and IF DeSean shakes loose from the Redskins as a Cap Casualty…….He will not be a starter
and Huff will be cut…
As far as Randle goes, it’s been his lack of Preparation.Comittment & Smarts that has kept him down as an underperforming Player..he missed a ton of “practice time” over minor injuries during the week and got the reputation in NY that’s he’s only really ready to play on Sunday’s and kind of goes on cruise control during the week…Hopefully Greg Lwis, Frank Reich & HC Pederson can draw out the energy and urgency from Randle for he has the Talent to be a solid WR in the NFL..We should see by Summer How Bad Rueben Randle truly wants it!!!