@teganslaw
Agholor is one of those confounding guys. He was horrible as a rookie and second-year guy, then in 2017 he blossomed. In 2018 he regressed a little but was still pretty good. In 2019 he fell off a cliff. What happened?
Clearly confidence became an issue. With DeSean and Jeffery out week two with injuries he was suddenly the number one guy and he just melted. Some players grab the job by the throat in those circumstances but he just dropped it. Wentz had him open down the left sideline for the game-winning touchdown in Atlanta in week two. Wentz lofted a perfect pass to him and he dropped it. He dropped two more game-winning passes later in the season also. (JJ dropped one also.) In the first Dallas game, Wentz had him open down the middle of the field for a long completion and he never even reached out for the ball. Ugh!
When a player loses his confidence bad things start to happen. He stops believing he can make the catches and he proves himself right. The Eagles had shown confidence in him after 2017 by picking up his fifth-year option but he didn't play up to the value of that contract.
Why would the Raiders sign him? He's fast. Awkward, but awkwardly fast. He consistently times in the top ten of NFL receivers. They also got him very cheap. They may be hoping that with some stability at coaching (he's had a new receiver coach almost every year with the Eagles) that he can regain his confidence and perform at a high level again. The talent is there. The kid is gifted. It's not his body that's the problem, it's that area between the ear holes. Retraining his brain is what's needed and that's not so easy to do.
Last year should have been his year to shine. He was in the final year of his contract and entering free agency. He was healthy most of the year. He defaulted into being the number one receiver. He was in a system he knew forward and back. He had a QB who believed in him and gave him chances. Instead of shining, he flopped. And he flopped badly.
For the Raiders, he's a low-risk investment. If they can get him back to his 2017 form, they'll be laughing at the rest of the league. If he bombs out, no big deal. They didn't spend a lot to get him. Part of his problem last year may have been drawing the top defensive back of the opposing defense. There was pretty much no other wide receiver who would threaten a defense so he got their top guy where before with Alshon on the field the top defender would follow Alshon. Agholor had made his money going against slot corner or nickel backs, so suddenly going head to head with the number one DB was a bit of an issue for him. With the Raiders he may be back to going against slot corners or nickel backs which may help him.
He's one of those confounding guys. He's a great person. You never hear anything bad about him off the field. He's got tremendous physical gifts. He has played well. He just reverted back to his 2015/2016 form last year when the Eagles really needed him playing at his 2017 level. He just lost his confidence and never got it back. The great wide receivers have confidence, almost arrogance, that they're the best the world has ever seen. Agholor doesn't have that confidence and it kills him.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!