Underdogs of the Eagles: Nelson Agholor

High School and College Career

Born in Nigeria, Nelson Agholor moved to the United States at five year old. Growing up in Tampa, Agholor began to flourish as a young football player. Agholor played running back, wide receiver, and defensive back for Berkely Preparatory School. 

Agholor's play at Berkely earned him All-American honors and led to him earning a five star rating as a college prospect. Ultimately Agholor selected the University of Southern California over Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, and local schools Florida and Florida State. 

Agholor spent three seasons in Southern California, and saw his numbers improve every season. 

As a true freshman Agholor played in all 13 games in a backup role. He caught 19 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 24.2 yards on five kick returns. 

In year two he caught 56 passes for 916 yards and six touchdowns. He also returned two punts for touchdowns. 

In his junior season Agholor set the college landscape on fire. He tallied 104 receptions for a whopping 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns. He again returned two punts for touchdowns. 

Agholor solidified his status as a top wide receiver prospect. After a 16-catch 216-yard, two-touchdowns performance over rival Cal USC quarterback Cody Kessler said "I thought it was really cool to see, and it continued to show, in my opinion, that he’s the best receiver in the country."

Aside from his stellar play at USC, Agholor also impressed his teammates with his behavior. Former USC head coach and current Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian recalls "[Agholor] was the first guy on the field, and we had no practice. He was catching balls on the Jugs machine. Work ethic pays off, hard work pays off.”

Agholor was also known for mentoring incoming players at USC. “He wants them to be great,” Kessler said. “Which is really great when you have a guy working on his own thing and his draft stock and his game, yet he’s making sure the younger guys are working as well.”

"I just want to show them how much I care and how important that is," said Agholor. “Guys that care about each other. Coaches that care about each other. Those are the kind of teams that do special things."

Agholor was named a semi finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff award which is awarded to the best wide receiver in the country every season. 

Agholor entered the NFL Draft after his junior season. 

2015-2016 with Eagles

The Eagles used the 20th selection in the 2015 NFL draft on Agholor, who was often compared to recently departed Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin. Immediately pressure was placed on Agholor to replace Maclin's 85 receptions, 1,318 yards and otuchdowns from the previous season as the team let Maclin walk in free agency. 

Agholor entered camp as the presumptive starter at outside wide receiver with Eagles severely lacking depth in their pass catching group. At the time the top receivers on the team were Jordan Matthews, Riley Cooper, and an aging Miles Austin. Agholor was immediately thrown into the fire. 

Agholor played 13 games in his rookie season, starting 12 of them. He caught his first career touchdown pass – a 53-yard bomb from Sam Bradford – in week 14 against the Buffalo Bills. 

Agholor then ran into trouble in the offseason when he was accused of sexually assaulting an employee at a gentleman's club during training camp. Ultimately the charges were dropped, but Agholor was starting his sophomore campaign off on the wrong foot. 

After struggling in his rookie season, he failed to rebound in year two. Agholor started 14 games and caught just 36 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns. In year two Agholor struggled mightily, dropping six passes during the season. 

The failure to execute got to Agholor, and the team took drastic measures by opting to give Agholor a mental rest from football. Agholor acknowledged his struggles following one game in particular that included another drop and a penalty called on Agholor that was a simple mental mistake.

“First and foremost, I hate losing. I hate not competing at the level that I know me as an individual can compete at. It’s about mentally being in my own head and taking away from the energy that I need to give to my teammates. It’s a fight. Every day, you have to fight. This game is a tough game. Mentally, I can put myself in a storm, but I need to jump out of the storm.”

Agholor credited head coach Doug Pederson for helping him through his struggles.

"I have a lot of respect for my head coach and everything he gave me as a player and as a man. He gave me an opportunity to grow. Doug paid close attention to detail on my technique. He showed me how I can get better. Also, with my situation, he told me as a man how I can get better with the opportunity. I appreciate him." 

Agholor was fortunate to have a a player who shed the bust label in his own locker room – Brandon Graham. Graham embraced the role of mentor to the struggling receiver. “That’s why I feel like I’m here now because I see that," Graham said. "I see how I need to let him know, and I said I was going to really sit down and let him know, ‘Man work will overcome everything. You just gotta make sure you keep putting in a little extra. You gotta finish strong this year and next year during the offseason, you gotta really just take it to another level.’ "

With a strong support system behind him, Agholor was set to emerge in his third season. 

2017 Renaissance

Agholor came into camp in 2017 with a refreshed attitude, and even a new identity – surrendering the no. 17 that he wore for his first two seasons to newcomer Alshon Jeffery and putting on jersey no. 13. 

In addition to the new number, he also received a new role in the offense. The team added the aforementioned Jeffery and veteran wide receiver Torrey Smith into the fold via free agency, pushing Agholor from the number one wide receiver slot down to the number four slot. 

With a different number and a smaller role, Agholor began to flourish in training camp, even catching the attention of offensive coordinator Frank Reich.

“I think the things that impressed me with Nelson are two things. One, the number of big plays he's making. Two, the consistency in which he's making them. Not only making the big plays but the consistency of which he's doing everything: his route running, ball catching. He's just at a good spot right now.”

Quarterback Carson Wentz echoed Reich's sentiments during training camp. "I feel he's in a good place," said Wentz. "Kind of going back even to the spring and talking to him after the season and seeing where his head was at, even late in last season, I feel like there's some lessons that we all learned and he learned. I don't wanna say I see a new guy, but I do see a more confident guy."

A surprising trade in preseason that sent slot receiver Jordan Matthews to the Buffalo Bills for Ronald Darby thrust Agholor back into the spotlight as the team's new slot receiver. 

The new role revitalized Agholor's career. 

In his first two seasons Agholor combined for 59 receptions, 648 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Agholor produced more catches, yards, and touchdowns in 2017 than he did in his first two seasons combined. 

Agholor finished the season second on the team in receptions (62), tied for second in touchdowns (8), and third in yards (768). Agholor caught an impressive 65.2 percent of his targets in 2017, a far cry from his unreliable 2015 (52.2%) and 2016 (51.4%) seasons.

Agholor's reliability was most evident by his third down stats. The Eagles were on of the most efficient teams on third downs in 2017, and Agholor was a key reason why. Agholor led all NFL receivers averaging 17.5 yards per reception (minimum 20 receptions) on third down. 

Agholor also lived up to his predecessor's (Jeremy Maclin) hype in 2017. Agholor led the Eagles with three receptions of 50 yards or more in 2017 – the most since Maclin in 2014. 

After being a popular option in cut or trade scenarios by armchair general managers across Philadelphia, Agholor has endeared himself to the fanbase by overcoming a bust label and becoming one of the team's best offensive weapons. Now Agholor has a chance to cap off his career resurgence with a Super Bowl ring.