Philadelphia Eagles' young monster wide receiver taking major stride in Year 2

Philadelphia Eagles' 6-foot-6 wide receiver Johnny Wilson has figured out how to use his hands.

Wilson, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft, finished the Eagles' preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, hauling in three catches for 73 yards.

Following the 34-27 win over Cincy, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni sang a to of high praise for the second-year pass catcher.

"Obviously, he had a really nice day today," Sirianni said. "It’s easy to look at stats for a wide receiver and say, ‘This guy did this and this guy did that,’ but he did a lot. Johnny did a lot of things for us and continues to do a lot of things for us in our rush offense last year that was number one with some of the blocks that he had, and he was really good on special teams.

"It takes guys time to develop into pass catchers against the different coverages that they’ve seen in the NFL. I think he did a really nice job adjusting to the football, making some really nice plays. Tanner put the ball on him. I thought the one that he had adjusted to on the back shoulder, where he kind of turned and caught it was really good. Did a good job with his fundamentals, getting to his back so the ball didn’t pop out. We saw the ball pop out with [LB] Jihaad [Campbell] on his interception opportunity, but Johnny did a good job of getting to his back. He did a lot of good things, and he’s one of our really tough players. It was fun to see him get some production today with that."

Wilson followed up his impressive first preseason outing with a solid practice at Lincoln Financial Stadium in front of 50,000 fans.

The Eagles' wide receiver room battle is a tough one this year, especially with undrafted rookie Darius Cooper stealing the spotlight, but Wilson figuring out how to use his hands, along with his blocking skills, will make him harder to compete with.

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