Former Eagles first-round pick Jalen Reagor fighting for roster spot: 'It's a humbling experience'

PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Reagor knows what time it is.

Information technology'south fourth dimension for him to show up or possibly be shipped out.

He's preparing to show up, and that is why the Eagles receiver entered preparation in the best physical shape of his life.

Think last yr, when he arrived out of shape and failed his physical conditioning test?

Some of that had to do with the sudden passing of a shut friend. Except this yr, i of his best friends from Texas Christian Academy, NFL cornerback Jeff Gladney, passed away. He likewise lost his grandmother in Jan.

Nonetheless, Reagor has come into military camp with a purpose.

"From two years agone to last year to now, mentally, he's in such a ameliorate space," said Eagles WR coach Aaron Moorehead. "I call back just that transition, having all those targets (in higher) to maybe you only get a couple opportunities per game, he had to become used to that adjustment.

"He's had a nice campsite so far. He's made plays, he's washed everything we've asked him to practice and he's got to proceed to claiming himself every mean solar day to be great on the field and off the field and to continue to take care of himself."

You could say well, what took so long to figure information technology out, and that's a legitimate question.

"I would say concluding year it was me dealing with a lot, so I just wasn't really just focused on my training," he said. "This yr, even dealing with a lot, it only motivated me more, particularly because that's my best friend (Gladney), that's who I trained with. It just made me go even harder. And so I just didn't worry about anything else."

Still just 23, Reagor seems to know what's at pale – his future not merely in Philadelphia only even perhaps elsewhere should he be traded before the end of Baronial.

"I want to be here for the rest of my career," he said. "But I mean, it'south a business of production. So, I'thou gonna handle my end, and I'm going to let them handle theirs."

Roll to Continue

Some fans aren't cutting him whatsoever slack. They booed him at the end of last year and in camp this year, one of the guests heckled him, saying, "Reagor, yous suck," as the WR walked the sideline.

Reagor never turned his head but gave a thumbs up then put his hands together as if in prayer and bowed slightly.

"Everything is not gonna be what I want to exist, only it is what it is and I got a chore to do," he said.

Jalen Reagor and A.J. Brown get ready for a practice drill

Ed Kracz/SI Fan Nation Eagles Today

Head coach Nick Sirianni said early in campsite that Reagor is contesting for a task, later calculation that he has to understand that he's not going to become 11 or however many targets he got in a game at TCU and that he has to make certain he does his best with whatever snaps he plays.

Reagor's response?

"I'grand simply gonna make them three a damn skilful three."

He afterwards added, "Me personally, I love a good challenge. Then, it's a humbling experience considering you know, you go from existence a first-rounder to battling. But I similar challenges."

The challenge has been made greater the by ii years when the Eagles followed up taking Reaor in the first round of the 2020 draft by calculation DeVonta Smith in the get-go round a year later and then this offseason trading for A.J. Brown and signing gratis amanuensis Zach Pascal.

"Nosotros got a hell of a room," said Reagor. "It's competition in there. Apparently, people have their jobs. Some people don't. Some people fighting, and and then you only got to come up in and when people go downwards, you footstep upward. When people are upward, you simply make sure yous're ready when it's your time."

Reagor certainly looks ready this fourth dimension.

He has to exist.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com'due south Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at world wide web.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

Source: https://www.si.com/nfl/eagles/news/jalen-reagor-humbled-by-going-from-first-round-pick-to-battling-for-job

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