The Eagles’ wide receiver depth chart has been the summer conversation, but after five practices in training camp, the WR2 job is looking less like a competition and more like a one-man lead.
Dontayvion Wicks has emerged as the clear front-runner behind DeVonta Smith, and the gap between him and the rest of the field does not feel especially close. Through a week of camp, he has been the most productive wideout on the roster after Smith, and he looks like the kind of player the Eagles believed they were getting when they traded for him back in March.
That doesn’t mean anyone is suggesting Wicks is Smith’s equal. It does mean he’s showing he belongs as a starting receiver in this league, which is exactly what Philadelphia wanted from the move.
A few things have helped Wicks separate himself early. On Day 5 of camp, he was essentially the WR1 because hamstring injuries kept Smith and Makai Lemon out of team drills. Even though the offense struggled, Jalen Hurts repeatedly leaned on Wicks, and several of the better throws in practice went his way, especially over the middle.
Wicks has also been making difficult catches and flashing in ways that are easy to notice. That has helped build trust with Hurts over the first five practices, and that trust matters when the Eagles are looking for someone who can pull attention away from Smith and Dallas Goedert.
The third option has to show up this summer, and Wicks has done exactly that. For now, he looks like far more than the fourth receiver Green Bay had left over from a numbers crunch.
Lemon, who was expected to be Wicks’ biggest challenger, hasn’t been able to keep pace because he hasn’t been on the field. He left Monday’s practice with a hamstring injury after taking part in individual work, another setback after missing some OTAs and all of mandatory minicamp in the spring with the same issue.
That matters because Lemon needs those reps with Hurts to get the timing right, and he hasn’t had enough chances to build that chemistry. The Eagles also did not ease him into the offense once camp opened, and that may already be looking like a missed opportunity.
When Lemon has practiced, he hasn’t done much to threaten Wicks anyway, though that work came in shells and shorts. He still hasn’t fully practiced in pads, and the Eagles need him healthy because the clock is already ticking on lost time.
At this point, it’s fair to wonder whether Lemon can be counted on for an immediate role by Week 1. That only strengthens Wicks’ hold on the job.
Brown was never the favorite for WR2, and he was not expected to win it. If he had, it would have said more about how badly Wicks and Lemon had performed than about Brown’s rise.
Day 5 offered Brown a chance to make a push, but he didn’t seize it. Hurts tried to connect with him on a few deep throws, but the timing was off, and one of those passes turned into an interception.
Brown still looks like the WR4 on this roster, while Wicks is lined up for WR2 and Lemon projects as WR3 once he returns. The real question with Lemon is how the Eagles want to use him when he’s back - in the slot or on the outside - and that makes every missed practice even more costly.
Brown settling into WR4 is fine. It just hasn’t made him a serious threat to Wicks.
So yes, the WR2 race was supposed to be the summer storyline. Right now, it’s trending toward a first-round knockout.
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