Before the Philadelphia Eagles ultimately settled on trading a 2019 third-round pick for Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate III at the NFL trade deadline, they reportedly had their eyes on New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson.
According to Manish Mehta of New York Daily News, the Eagles offered the Jets a fourth-round pick in exchange for the former Temple standout, which New York obviously declined. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen initially reported last month that Philadelphia was interested in Anderson.
Nevertheless, it does not come as a surprise to see that Philadelphia was interested in Anderson before the deadline as he would’ve filled a desperate need within their offense. Earlier this season, the Eagles lost their vertical deep threat in Mike Wallace to a broken fibula against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The veteran wide receiver has yet to return to the football field and the Eagles still have not found that guy opposite of Alshon Jeffery to stretch the field. After going undrafted in 2016, the 6-foot-1, 194-pound Anderson broke onto the scene last year in a huge way with the Jets.
The former Owl wideout, who only had 42 receptions (78 targets) for 587 yards and two touchdowns in his first season, had a career-high 63 receptions (114 targets) for 941 yards and seven touchdowns in 2017.
Anderson was one of the better stories in the NFL last year as opposing defenses had to game plan for him on a weekly basis. However, this season has not gone to plan for the former undrafted free agent, who dealt with off the field issues in the offseason and has been banged up.
In nine games this season (five started), the 25-year-old wideout only has 23 receptions (47 targets) for 168 yards and three touchdowns. Anderson’s best game this season happened in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos, where he had three receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
In fact, when you compare his stats from this year to last year, Anderson had two games of 100 plus receiving yards and five straight games with a touchdown.
But with all that being said, the Jets made the decision to keep their young wideout, while the Eagles opted to go for the more proven commodity in Tate.
