Speedy Eagle Josh Huff Needs To Make Them Keep Him On The Field

This is a very important season for Eagles second-year wide receiver and kick returner Josh Huff.  He showed some flashes of his talent in 2014, but for the most part, the season was a major disappointment for the youngster.  He came to Philadelphia from Oregon with a familiarity of the Eagles offense, so he was expected to hit the ground running.

An injury in training camp sidelined him and never really caught back up.   Unfortunately, he made mistakes, dropped passes and played inconsistently, which kept him on the bench for most of the season.

The promising 2014 third round pick caught only eight passes for 98 yards and no touchdowns.  There are quite a few receivers in the league, who equaled this season total in a half of a game.  He did return a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans and on the play you can see his speed and strength in breaking a couple of tackle attempts at the end of the return.

Looking back, Huff fell behind early and was trying to do too much.  That was the case when fumbled in the red zone against the Arizona Cardinals rather than putting the ball away before he tried to run with it.  That was a very costly mistake  Not being fundamentally sound is an error that rookies make all the time and one of the reasons why they get benched.

Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooten used to tell his players to “Be quick, but not in a hurry”.  That’s what Huff needs to learn.  Let things develop.  Secure the football, while you let your blockers do their jobs, then explode through the opening and use your natural instincts. Don’t forget, secure the football first.

Word has been circulating that Huff has been working hard and is in the best shape of his life.  He was already well put together, but I’ve heard he’s even moreso now.  He obviously knows how big this season is in his career.

Huff excites me because he’s got the kind of explosiveness which could make him a guy who can take the top off the defensive coverages and be that a deep threat this team needs.  He also could be great on all those quick screens which Chip loves to run.  He’s capable of lining up in the backfield and either carrying the ball or running route of that position.  Like Kelly has talked about doing with Agholor, Huff is capable of being the kind of player, who he could line up anywhere in the offense.

Huff’s speed, quickness and strength should make him a big play guy, who is tough to match up with in man-to-man and teams have to respect in their coverages  He needs to know what each receiver position is doing on each play and then he needs to be able to execute that assignment without making costly mistakes.  That means catching the football consistently not tipping it and getting it intercepted.  It means securing the football on each catch. Blocking downfield when called upon to do so.

For the rest of his NFL career, Huff, who is not a big receiver at 5’11” 206 pounds must secure the football every time he touches it on every day in practice or during a game.  This in the NFL.  Guys are stronger in the league than they were in college, so they’ll pull the ball out of your hands if you give them an opportunity to do it.  Once they see a tape of you getting a ball pulled out of your hands, they’re going to try to do it every time you touch the football.

You could see that he wasn’t focused enough on exactly what he was supposed to be doing on each play in his first season.  He fumbled the football and dropped passes at key times which hurt the team.  I could see that he’s got a tremendous upside in this offense because he’s got great potential for running with the football in the open field.

Kelly is able to force a defense to play a receiver man-to-man.  If the receiver can beat man-to-man coverage, he should be flourishing in the Eagles offense.  Huff should be able to grow into a solid playmaker, who catches over 50 passes, contributes as an outstanding blocker on running plays and is one of the leading kickoff returners in the league.

Huff should be taking playing time away from Riley Cooper and Austin Miles.  They’ve got an experience advantage over him, but he’s got talent over them.  If he’s playing mistake free football, Kelly will have to find a place for him on the field.

His goal should be to make Kelly find ways to get him the football.  If he achieves his goals, he should emerge along with Matthews and first round draft pick, Nelson Agholor as the Birds top three producers at the wide receiver position.  I’m sure Kelly would like to go with his younger more talented wide receivers, but they can’t do it if they making too many mistakes.