By Tucker Bagley, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
If the Nelson Agholor who puts on a midnight green, No. 17 jersey for the Eagles played anything like the Nelson Agholor who wore No. 15 for the USC Trojans, the Philadelphia Eagles wouldn't be mired in a wide receiver crisis.
In his final season at USC, Agholor caught more than 100 passes for over 1300 yards and 12 touchdowns. He put up big plays and dominated games on a weekly basis on offense and special teams as a punt returner. So how did he go from a productive player taken in the first round of the NFL Draft to a guy averaging just 24.9 yards per game?
It seemed like Agholor hit rock bottom against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, catching just two of his seven targets and picking up a measly seven yards on those grabs. But sadly, he's had two games in his short career where he picked up just five receiving yards and three times he has been held without a catch.
When he was drafted 18 months ago, then-head coach Chip Kelly raved about the kid's versatility and his "growth mindset."
"He’s played inside receiver, he’s played outside receiver," Kelly explained the day after the draft. "[USC head coach] Steve Sarkisian did a great job of moving him around. He had 104 catches this past year. He lined up everywhere.
"I think the great thing about Nelson is he has a growth mindset, and not a fixed mindset. He's always trying to get better."
Versatility and wanting to be better are certainly great qualities to have, but they alone don't win football games. Instead of a jack of all trades, Agholor has proven to be a master of none. He's listed as the third-worst wide out by Football Outsiders, according to their DYAR metric, ahead of only Tavon Austin and Torrey Smith.
But there is still some slivers of hope, no matter how thin. Like on his touchdown reception against the Cleveland Browns during Week 1.
Agholor does a great job of selling Joe Haden on the slant route before breaking outside and beating him for a 35-yard touchdown. It's a route you would expect from a shifty, No. 1 receiver. The issue is, however, for every good play, there are three (or four, or five…) plays that are just head-shakingly bad.
For instance, him giving up on his route against the Lions on Carson Wentz's game-ending interception was simply unacceptable.
To be fair, Agholor was the fourth option in Wentz's progression on this play, but the quarterback and head coach Doug Pederson both said he called out an alert at the line of scrimmage, supposedly letting Agholor know the ball may be coming his way. Just look at how startled he is when he sees the ball coming his way.
And that has been the book on Agholor. One step forward, two steps back. You think you start to see flashes and then he drops a pair of balls in the red zone or bobbles a ball on a simple dig route, forcing the Eagles to use a challenge just to pick up four yards. Those drops and unreliability clearly outweigh what little production Agholor has offered during his 22 games as an Eagle.
I've been incredibly vocal in my support for Agholor in his time as an Eagle, but he looks nothing like the player I watched dominate the PAC-12 in 2014 and as Pederson continues to show less and less faith in his receiving corps, it is starting to look like Agholor will be fighting for his job come training camp next season. And if that last gif shows anything, it's that Agholor has a hard time putting up a fight for something.
