Faceoff - WR Reggie Brown, Philadelphia Eagles

Posted 8/6, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by Colin Dowling

This season, Reggie Brown finally will get his chance to be the Eagles number one receiver and top-pass catching threat. After spending time in the shadows of Terrell Owens and Donte Stallworth, Reggie Brown will be looked to early and often by quarterback Donovan McNabb. The best part is that Brown -- the team's number one receiver who has shown improvement in each of his two seasons -- can be drafted in a position of value.

Reggie Brown has good size and speed. At 6'2, 200 pounds, he won't punish very many corners on the bump-n-run, but he is tough enough and fast enough to get off the line quickly. His collegiate experience at Georgia never resulted in fantastic statistical seasons (due in some small part to the presence of Fred Gibson and a mediocre quarterback), but Brown more then proved his worth against the top defenses in the country. Similarly, five seasons of college football helped Brown mature more then many of the young players in the league, helping him make the adjustment to the NFL -- both on-field and off of it -- much more quickly then many players.

The Eagles offense spreads the ball around quite a bit, utilizing both running backs and tight ends more then many teams. For this reason alone, some people are concerned about Brown never becoming a top-tier fantasy receiver. However, the 2007 Eagles roster features a dearth of talent at the position, and Reggie Brown should clearly benefit. It would be easy to suggest that the lack of other talent at the receiver position and Donovan McNabb returning from injury would force the Eagles to rely more heavily on the run and/or implement Brian Westbrook even more in to the passing game. While I disagree with this line of thinking, even if the Eagles do run more to protect McNabb, then the affect should still be rather minimal on Brown. In other words, a decrease in total passes thrown to the receivers should be more than balanced out by the fact that Reggie Brown will see an increased number of the targets available.

Furthermore, the last time Donovan McNabb had a truly talented number one receiver to throw to, he produced 1200 yards and 14 touchdowns. Do I think Reggie Brown will perform as Terrell Owens did? No, not even close. But Brown finished 2006 as the 21st ranked wide receiver in fantasy football. He is being drafted right now as WR21 in most drafts. I find it highly unlikely that the return of Donovan McNabb, the lack of other receivers on the roster, and Reggie Brown's own development as a football player will not result in significantly better production then last season.

Downside - by David Yudkin

Reggie Brown enters the season as the receiver pegged to have the most fantasy value this year in Philadelphia, and while he appears to be headed for a solid season, some people may be over projecting his stats.

Brown barely cracked the 800-yard receiving mark last year, and from a yardage perspective Brown has actually performed better with Donovan McNabb OUT of the lineup. In games where he caught a pass, Brown has averaged 64 yards per game without McNabb and 42 yards per game with McNabb playing. He's had 70+ receiving yards 8 times in 14 games without McNabb (including the post season).

Other than the monster season Terrell Owens had in 2004, Philadelphia has not produced a Top 20 fantasy wide receiver in the McNabb era (which started in 1999). The team has been more inclined to spread the wealth rather than focus on a key target.

In the current incarnation of the Eagles, Brian Westbrook has served as the team's primary target with tight end L.J. Smith as the next best producer. This year, the team added Kevin Curtis, and while he may be the team's number two receiver by official designation on paper, it's not out of the question that he could produce as the number one receiver by season's end. Curtis languished in St. Louis behind Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce and fared well filling in when Bruce was injured.

There were nine players that had double-digit receptions on the Eagles in four of the past five seasons. The fact of the matter is that the team will continue to spread the ball around in the passing game.

Brown may be one of the more talented receivers the Eagles have rostered in the past 10 years, but that may not translate into huge offensive numbers. The team did swing and miss on several other high draft picks and while Brown likely will not fall into that category the Eagles' track record for picking wide receivers has been less than stellar.

I've already seen Brown drafted as a Top 15 WR this year, and in my opinion that would be selecting him pretty much at his upside and would require a banner season just to yield a break even return on investment.