Embattled Jalen Reagor Sounds Off on Booing

The Eagles' 2020 first-round pick is keeping his swagger as critics mount

PHILADELPHIA - A disappointing rookie season has turned into a sophomore slump for Jalen Reagor and the Eagles’ 2020 first-round pick seems to be going backward in Nick Sirianni's offense.

On Sunday in Washington, Reagor was targeted just once and did not haul in the Jalen Hurts’ pass while playing 51 percent of the team’s offensive snaps, the latter mark dipping to a season-low for the second consecutive week.

When last seen at Lincoln Financial Field, Regaor was booed by the Philly faithful as the one player emblematic of Howie Roseman’s failings as a talent evaluator.

The low point for Regaor was back-to-back drops at MetLife Stadium late in what was an unforgivable 13-7 loss to the moribund Giants back on Nov. 28.

"It was funny, honestly,” Reagor said of the boo-birds Wednesday as the playoff-bound Eagles continued preparation for the regular-season finale against Dallas. “ ... Derek Barnett just told me to embrace that type of stuff cause I mean it shows they are paying attention.”

Barnett, who has taken his share of shots as well as a player who has not lived up to the billing as a one-time No. 14 overall pick, was trying to express the sentiment that hate is not the opposite of love, apathy is.

Jalen Reagor, on Wednesday, talked about boos he's getting from fans :: Ed Kracz/SI.com Eagle Maven

Reagor framed it a different way, however.

“It's like the saying when a coach stops yelling at you and stops coaching you then you should be worried so I mean like I said, it was kinda funny,” he said. “It was funny to hear boos and then just hearing my other teammates just like 'Bro, don't worry about it.' Just knowing they have my back regardless."

Reagor did briefly turn the boos to cheers two days after Christmas against the New York Giants. He returned a punt 39 yards to the NYG 21 to set up more points in what became a 34-10 rout that day.

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Some players, however, privately mentioned that some of the taunts toward Reagor were out of bounds. The TCU product, though, seems as self-assured as ever.

Some of that has to be traced to Sirianni, whose first core value as a coach is connection.

“I feel like he's an even better person than people just like look at him like oh, he's a coach,” Reagor said. “... when the fans were booing me he was very upset about it. When I dropped the pass against New York he was the first person to walk up to me. He walked me all the way through the tunnel and everything so he has our back and I believe he has our back."

That doesn’t mean the pat on the back isn’t replaced by a kick in the butt on occasion as well.

“My dad [Montae] played in the league," said Reagor. "I had John Kitna as a coach in high school so [Sirianni] getting on me, that's like anything. The media see him get on Jalen or get on anybody. 

"That's just something to give you all something to react to but that's what happens in sports so to the greatest of great players. It happens to everybody so I feel like it would help any player in any sport."

As for how Regaor is holding up, you can be the judge.

"I know who I am,” he said. “I mean I'm gonna always say this: I'm not here by accident. So that's how I keep my confidence up and just remembering what got me here and just keeping that swagger.”

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.