Getty Philadelphia Eagles rookie receiver Quez Watkins threw up the peace sign after scoring his first touchdown.
You can thank Washington’s COVID-19 outbreak for one thing: Quez Watkins is back. The Philadelphia Eagles activated the speedy receiver for Week 15 after he cleared health and safety protocols on Sunday.
Watkins was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 13, along with practice-squad running back Jason Huntley. Both players are healthy, although Huntley wasn’t protected or elevated to the 53-man roster. The Philadelphia-Washington game was postponed from Sunday, December 19 until Tuesday, December 21 due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Washington locker room. They have since activated six of the 24 players originally put in health and safety protocols.
Watkins, a sixth-rounder in 2020, is the Eagles’ top deep threat who ranks 11th in the NFL for yards-per-catch at 15.8. He has 31 receptions for 491 yards – second among receivers on the team behind DeVonta Smith (701) – including a 91-yarder back in Week 2. The latter was the fifth-longest pass reception in franchise history.
Jalen Hurts is dropping DIMES. 91 yards to Quez Watkins.
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Carson Wentz Hits Snap Count for First-Rounder
The Indianapolis Colts will surrender a first-round pick to the Eagles from the Carson Wentz trade. The one-time franchise quarterback needed to play 75% of the Colts’ offensive snaps for a conditional second-rounder to convert into a first-rounder. Wentz has seen has seen 854 of the team’s 876 snaps this year (97.5%), meaning even if Wentz misses the final three games then he still would have played 80.3% of the total snaps. Lock it in.
The only negative thing is the Colts are in prime position to make the postseason. If the season ended today, the first-round pick acquired in the Wentz trade would equate to the 23rd overall pick. The Colts are one of the hottest teams in football, especially after knocking off the New England Patriots 27-17 on Saturday night. Indianapolis has won four of their last five games.
Have never seen Carson Wentz this mad 😡
Wentz made headlines against New England for getting into it with Matthew Judon. The Colts signal-caller wouldn’t get into the specifics of what happened but it seemed to center around Judon questioning his manhood. And (maybe?) kicking him in his private area, based on how Wentz explained the altercation.
“I don’t need to go into the specifies obviously, but a man’s ability to reproduce is being in question and some other guys with curse words,” Wentz said, via USA Today. “Guy’s hands needs to be at their side – I will just say that.”
Washington QB Situation Still Unclear
The Washington Football Team still hasn’t named their starter for Tuesday’s game. The expectation has been that third-stringer Kyle Shurmur might be under center since starter Taylor Heinicke and backup Kyle Allen remain in the COVID-19 protocol. The team hadn’t activated either one as of Sunday but they do have two more days to turn in negative tests.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni talked about the unpredictability of preparing for a team without a clear-cut starter named. They will have to rely on scouting reports and video tape of Shurmur from the preseason and going back to his college days. The Vanderbilt product has never played in a regular-season game.
“It’s always about the players and their talents and what they do,” Sirianni said. “So obviously we have done a lot of homework of getting that information. We got great guys – like I said, our video department has cut-ups of everybody. Every play they’ve ever played, any play they’ve ever played on this situation, any play they’ve ever played on the left hash, right hash.”