If Birds Pick Wide Receiver, Marqise Lee Should Be The Choice

Let me set the record straight right now: Marqise Lee is a stud. The NFL draft hopeful from USC is a likely first round pick, and if the Eagles are smart, he will be wearing midnight green come Friday night.

The junior wide receiver leaves USC a year early after an extremely productive career. In just three seasons, Lee caught 248 passes for 3,655 yards, and 29 touchdowns. His breakout season came in his sophomore year where he recorded 118 receptions for 1,721 yards and 14 touchdowns. Following his stellar second season, the California native was named the Fred Biletnikoff award winner (most outstanding receiver), unanimous All-American, first-team All-Pac-12, and Pac-12 offensive player of the year.

Amongst the wide receiver’s highlights was a dismantling of Chip Kelly’s Oregon Ducks. In two games against Kelly’s Ducks, Lee torched Oregon for 20 catches, 344 yards and three touchdowns. To say that Eagles coach Kelly knows what Lee can do is an understatement.

It is a foregone conclusion that the Eagles will be drafting a wide receiver and they would be remiss if Lee were not that receiver. Despite an injury-plagued 2013 season, an unstable quarterback situation, and a coaching change midseason, he still caught 57 receptions for 791 yards and four touchdowns.

Jimmy Kempski of Philly.com was posed with an interesting question during his chat today:

Good ques from "Frank" in my chat: If you swap Marqise Lee's 2012 & 2013 seasons around, would he be higher rated than Watkins and/or Evans?

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) May 8, 2014

The answer is: yes, Lee would be the higher rated wide receiver and a likely top-15 pick. But alas, the USC product had a "down" season and luckily for the Eagles, his value has dropped due to the aforementioned reasons above. If Philadelphia is smart, they will not allow the wide out to drop further.