BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The Eagles had a problem after the 2016 season.
After adopting a hyper-aggressive organizational strategy to move up to select Carson Wentz No. 2 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Eagles saw firsthand the pitfalls of not surround him with the requisite weapons on offense to un-tap his bountiful potential.
Wentz finished his rocky rookie season with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while working with one of the least productive wide receiving corps in recent memory.
During the 2017 offseason the Eagles signed Alshon Jeffery to a one-year deal, prior to extending him in December, added Torrey Smith on a team-friendly contract, and after one preseason game threw Jordan Matthews into a deal with the Buffalo Bills along with a third-round pick to acquire cornerback Ronald Darby while also freeing up Nelson Agholor to move into the slot where he had a career season.
The biggest addition, though, was Jeffery.
As former Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Greg Jennings tells it, Jeffery's skill-set meshed perfectly with the kind of weapon that the Eagles needed to give Wentz in his second season.
"Alshon caused us a lot of problems with the Bears because of his ability to go over the middle and attack the football," Jennings told NJ Advance Media this week. "And make plays downfield."
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Never was Jeffery's ability to make plays in the deep passing game more evident than a 38-7 throttling of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl LII.
Jeffery caught all five of his targets for 85 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 17.0 yards per reception.
Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo couldn't say enough this week about the monumental impact that Jeffery's presence had both on Wentz, Nick Foles, but also the team's offense as a unit.
"I can't get Alshon enough credit," DeFilippo said. "The effect of Alshon Jeffery doesn't always show up in the stat book. Okay? It doesn't. I have this philosophical argument with some people all the time about receivers only effecting the game eight plays a game. I 100 percent disagree. If you're playing a guy like Alshon, a lot of times, you may have to play too high with a safety over the top of him. What does that do? It opens up lanes to run the football.
"Whereas if you don't have an Alshon Jeffery, if you just have a mediocre group of receivers, they're going to load the box on you. Now you can't run it. Now you have a hard time throwing it, because you don't have an elite group of wideouts out there. The people who tell me that receivers only effect six to eight plays a game, I think that's totally bogus."
Jennings says that from the outside looking in, he can see why Jeffery has fit in so well both with his new teammates and within the Eagles' scheme.
"His willingness to be unselfish, and play within their system. I think that's their driving force with allowing their quarterback to be that guy in Carson Wentz, and now Nick Foles. Their defense was their calling card, but if they can continue to be unselfish, play with no egos, and focus on the task at hand.
"aving a talent like Alshon can kind of take a step back and say 'I'm still an elite guy, but I'm not asked to do what I once was, because I have a lot of talent around me,' it's better for the team."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoPHL.