John Hightower entered the 2020 NFL regular season as a training camp darling and a player to watch after a strong summer with Carson Wentz.
Hightower’s strong debut fizzled out and the former Boise State star finished the year with just 10 catches for 167 yards on 29 targets.
Now the former fifth-round pick will be competing with four other likely reserves for a spot on the Eagles 53 man roster. Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia recently assessed Hightower’s chances of making the roster.
John Hightower had a really strange rookie season. The fifth-round pick out of Boise State certainly has some ability, but he finished his rookie year with just 10 catches for 167 yards. Amazingly, those 10 catches came on 29 targets, which means his catch percentage was 34.5%. That’s shockingly bad. It was the worst catch percentage in the NFL last season among receivers with at least 20 targets and it wasn’t close; the next closest guy was A.J. Green at 45.2%. And it was the third-worst percentage of the last five years.
As we previously highlighted, Hightower could be best utilized out of the slot, allowing the big-bodied receiver to operate in space.
The athletic speedster offers a trait that Nick Sirianni covets and it’ll be on Shane Steichen to maximize Hightower’s big-play ability on the outside.
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