PHILADELPHIA − The narrative is a good one that the under-the-radar Eagles wide receivers in Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson and Parris Campbell will produce the way injured stars A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith would against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday.
But it's not realistic to expect that, not when the three have combined for six catches for 36 yards, total, through three games this season.
There's a good chance the Eagles aren't expecting that either.
"That's not feasible," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "Everyone has their strengths, and everybody has their weaknesses. You try to help these guys as much as you possibly can, play to their strengths."
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Brown returned to practice Friday after missing two straight games with a hamstring injury. It's not known yet if he'll be able to play Sunday.
Smith suffered a concussion last Sunday in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' 15-12 win over the Saints. Smith is in the NFL's concussion protocol and has not practiced at all this week. He would have to be cleared by an independent neurologist in order to play.
The Eagles might lean toward a cautious approach with both because the Eagles have their bye week after playing the Buccaneers.
The Eagles are further short-handed after placing Britain Covey, who also serves as a punt returner, on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. Covey is expected to miss about six weeks.
But Dotson, Wilson and Campbell, and potentially John Ross, who was signed to the practice squad this week, can play an important role for the Eagles while preventing the Bucs from focusing on quarterback Jalen Hurts, running back Saquon Barkley and tight end Dallas Goedert.
That's why, when Hurts was asked if the offense needs to be reinvented and changed without Brown and Smith, responded: "I don’t think those are the words. I think that everybody is here and has something that makes them great, so it comes down to putting them in positions to shine in the places they excel."
We have already seen that after Smith left the game. With the Eagles trailing 12-7 and facing a third-and-16 from their 35 with a little more than a minute left, Hurts threw over the middle to Goedert. But Campbell, running a mesh route from the other side, got three Saints players to collide, enabling Goedert to continue up the sideline until he was pushed out of bounds at the Saints' 4-yard line.
On the next play, Saquon Barkley scored the game-winning touchdown.
Dotson somehow managed to avoid making contact with any of the Saints' defenders, which would have been an offensive pass interference penalty.
"I was actually trying to get in the way of Dallas' guy," Dotson said. "I actually didn't know all three guys were gonna be there, so it was pretty cool. It sprung a big play for us. ... In this league, basically, the refs are waiting to call (pass interference). It was a fine line we had to work all week, and I just threw an alley-oop to (Goedert), and he dunked it."
That play was bigger than any catch Dotson had (he had only two for 13 yards against the Saints). And even though Dotson was a first-round pick of the Commanders in 2022, that's probably what the Eagles can expect from him going forward.
The same is true of Campbell, who was the Colts' second-round pick in 2019. Campbell averaged just 5.2 yards per catch last season for the Giants before signing a one-year deal with the Eagles. Then he was waived on cutdown day, and re-signed to the practice squad.
Campbell said it took a while for him to realize that the practice squad might be his best way back onto an NFL roster.
"My pride was in the way for sure," Campbell said. "And once I did get let go, and they told me they wanted me to come back on the practice squad, I immediately was like, 'No. That’s not me.'
"Then about a couple hours went by, and I was sitting there, thinking about what would be next, if I would get a call from another team, or if it was the end of the road. … I started praying, and I said, ‘If I’m meant to be here in Philly, I’ll open that door back up.'
"I kid you not, 10 minutes later, Nick (Sirianni) called me on the phone."
And here Campbell is now, about to get his third practice-squad elevation. If that's the case, after Sunday, the Eagles would have to sign him to the 53-man roster in order for him to play in another game.
Wilson, the Eagles' sixth-round pick, just made his first career reception against the Saints, which went for 9 yards. And Ross, who in 2017 set the NFL combine record for fastest 40-yard dash time at 4.22, which was broken this year, hasn't played in an NFL game since 2021 with the Giants.
So it would be unfair to expect them to produce like Brown, who has had 1,496 and 1,456 yards in his two seasons with the Eagles; or Smith, who has had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
And they don't have to. Not with Barkley leading the NFL with 351 rushing yards; or Goedert coming off a game in which he set career highs in receptions (10) and yards (170); or Hurts who despite six turnovers, has been effective running and throwing the ball.
"Everybody is old enough to know what we’re capable of, what we’re good at," Campbell said. "And just doing what the team asks of us, what the coaches ask of us, what Jalen asks of us. Playing our role and playing it well. We know if we do that, we can go in there and be victorious."
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl, on Threads and Instagram @martinfrank1.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Eagles can replace A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith − but not with Jahan Dotson or another WR
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