PHILADELPHIA — Late in an Eagles training camp practice at NovaCare Complex, quarterback Carson Wentz found a rookie receiver on a slant pattern across the middle. It was caught, the receiver evaded two tacklers and ran to the end zone.
Doug Pederson, the Philadelphia coach, called it back. The quarterback — it’s typically non-contact for quarterbacks during camp — was sacked before he released the ball, Pederson said.
Wentz is a first-round pick, No. 2 overall, a player about whom the Eagles felt highly enough to trade a boatload of future draft picks for the chance to add him to their roster. He’s the quarterback of the future, the apple in the eye of Eagles fans around town, who coalesced to chant his name on a Sunday practice at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wentz didn’t even play Division I football, playing instead at FCS’ North Dakota State, and good luck finding his name on the various recruiting services — he was unrated.
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The receiver?
That’s Cayleb Jones. He’s an undrafted free agent, passed over by all 32 NFL franchises in a seven-round, 253-pick draft, fighting for a chance to just make the roster.
He’s also a former five-star recruit and a standout receiver for the Arizona Wildcats for two seasons before he left early for the NFL.
How’s that for a juxtaposition?
“You go from being one of the top guys in the conference to a walk-on, per se,” Jones said. “It’s really just regaining your confidence, regaining your composure as a player and rebuilding yourself from the bottom to the top.”
Early on in training camp, Jones doesn’t see the field much. He’ll pop in and out with reserves during live drills at the end of practice, and in 7-on-7 practice, but on Saturday afternoon it was rarely for more than a play or two at a time, and the ball was rarely even thrown in his direction.
It’s a far cry from his time at Arizona, where he was UA’s No. 1 receiving option over two years as he amassed 129 catches for 1,926 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Saturday, Jones watched from the sideline as Philadelphia’s first- and second-team units practiced a new offense. A sobering thought — Jones rated higher as a recruit coming out of high school then nearly all of his skill position teammates. He was a five-star when he committed to Texas out of high school, the 30th-best prospect overall in 2012, according to Scout.com, and the third-best wide receiver.
Reuben Randle, a four-year veteran and LSU product, was the top-rated receiver in 2009. Otherwise, looking at the Eagles’ roster, it’s clear that, once a player arrives in the NFL, there is no star system anymore.
Jordan Matthews was a two-star before he went to Vanderbilt; running back Ryan Mathews was a two-star who wound up at Fresno State; quarterback Chase Daniel, a seven-year NFL vet who just signed a $21 million contract, was a three-star going to Missouri. Daniel went undrafted in 2009.
Jones was even rated higher than his friend Nelson Agholor, a former USC receiver who was rated the fifth-best receiver in Jones’ 2012 class.
Agholor was a first-round pick in 2015; in 2016, 32 receivers were drafted, and Jones wasn’t one of them.
“Nobody is going to be handed a spot, no matter if you’re a free agent or in your fifth year coming in, or a rookie trying to earn your spot,” Jones said. “The biggest thing is trying to stay ready and learning from those older guys and being able to take what they have and use it in your arsenal.”
Jones is fighting for a roster spot with 11 other receivers. Some — Agholor, Randle, Matthews— are veterans and likely locks for Philadelphia’s opening-day roster, and most teams won’t carry more than six receivers on that list .
So, Jones is fighting for his job like never before.
“I just want to stand out in general and make plays,” Jones said. “It’s simple. It’s no words, it’s not who you are, what you came from, it’s about who makes plays, and just trying to be another big target on the roster and contribute on special teams.
“This is a dream job, man, and everybody’s out here trying to win a spot.”
The Star spoke with Jones after practice on Saturday. Here’s more of what he had to say:
On what the first day of rookie mini-camp was like in the spring: “It’s kind of like a reawakening, you don’t know what to expect. You kind of hear from other guys. Then you get a little exposure to bits and pieces of the offenses when you interview with certain people, but you don’t really get exposed to the full girth of it. The first install meeting I was in there, head spinning, trying to figure out anything.”
On motivation from going undrafted: “I left a year on the table, and I’ll never forget that feeling. When I’m tired and I don’t feel like doing stuff, that’s when I gotta remember that.”
On watching the draft: “I think after the first night I didn’t watch any because I wasn’t going in the first round, after the first night I would check my phone and keep it by me, but everyone that I’ve been around and everybody that I’ve talked to prepared me for the process and told me not to watch it. It was cool, I’m happy for some of my friends, but that’s over now, it’s an even table for everybody.”
On advice from his dad, a former 10-year NFL veteran: “There’s nothing my dad could tell me, he went first round. So there’s nothing nobody can tell me, something nobody needed to tell me. It’s something I had to cope with on my own, and I got over it to a certain extent, but not completely because it’s what makes me work every day.”
On the surprise of going undrafted: “Did it surprise me? Yeah, because I know there aren’t 30 other guys better than me but, you know what, it’s whatever. That’s how it is and, you know, 100,000 other guys have gone through the same thing I’ve gone through, guys on this team like Trey Burton and Jason Peters have gone through it. There’s a lot of guys I look up to.”
On being among NFL players: “One of my first experiences in OTAs when I came in and I’m looking at Brent Celek, who’s been here forever, Ryan Mathews who I’ve watched for a long time, Sam Bradford. I’m like shoot, this is crazy. You just gotta really understand that you’re a professional, too. Act like one, train like one, conduct yourself like one. ”
