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Eagles rookie Nelson Agholor a work in progress

The talented wide receiver acknowledges he has a lot to learn, but is making impressive strides.

Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor.
Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor.Read more(Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)

NELSON AGHOLOR knows he isn't a finished product.

If the Eagles' first-round rookie wideout wasn't clear on this, he got an abrupt reminder just before halftime of Saturday's Eagles preseason romp over the Baltimore Ravens.

Agholor made a scapel-sharp cut to get open for Mark Sanchez' pass, which Agholor caught just on the Ravens' side of midfield, the clock ticking down inside 40 seconds. Ravens corner Cassius Vaughn tried to wrestle Agholor down, while Agholor fought to get out of bounds, to stop the clock. Suddenly, a step from the sideline, Vaughn let go of Agholor, wrestled the ball away, and took off. Agholor chased him down at the Eagles' 40.

A serendipitous pass interference penalty on Vaughn nullified the turnover. On replay, it wasn't much of a penalty, Vaughn tugging briefly at Agholor's left hand before the ball arrived.

"Tuck the football," Agholor said yesterday. "Situational football - we're in a two-minute situation, I'm trying to get out of bounds, but I have to have my mind and focus on both things, securing the football and getting out of bounds. I thought that was a situation where I let up on one of my responsibilities."

Agholor leads the Eagles with seven preseason catches for 106 yards and a touchdown. He's averaging 15.1 yards per catch, and he has a 20-plus-yard grab in each of the two games so far.

"I think he's made really great strides in this training camp. He's proven he can make a play, and that's really critical for a receiver,'' offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. "We teach them to run these very specific routes and then we teach them that this is the way it should look, ideally. But at the end of the day, you get downfield somehow and when the ball comes your way, you've got to catch it. He's displayed an ability to do that."

Safety Malcolm Jenkins said Agholor "is very, very smooth," and runs good routes. "The one thing when he first got here I don't think he understood was the timing of offensive football in the NFL. It's not like a one-on-one drill, where you've got all day to get open. You've got to beat your guy and be where you're supposed to be at, when you're supposed to be there. I think he struggled with that early, but as of lately, he's put in extra time, he's a humble guy, he works hard. He's starting to get that timing and rhythm part of offense down, so he's getting off the line faster, getting into his routes.

"The rest of it is just God-given talent."

Agholor said he improved in the timing area through practice reps, and by observing the other wideouts.

"I got to watch more film on some of the older guys and how they have that rapport with the quarterbacks, how they recognize defenses, and how they know to be in the right spot," he said.

Agholor said he doesn't like to think in terms of having proven anything, about playmaking or anything else, just two preseason games into his pro career.

"The only thing I'm OK with at this point is the fact that I've had a lot of reps and I've put some stuff on film to learn from," Agholor said. "Every day I'm progressing. That's all I can concern myself with, and that's all I want to worry about."

It's unclear what Agholor's role will be when the season starts. So far, Chip Kelly seems disinclined to stray from a starting wideout group of Jordan Matthews, Riley Cooper and Josh Huff. Huff, away from the team the past two days dealing with the death of a family member, has caught just one pass in two games, in a handful of snaps. He played sporadically last season as a rookie.

Asked if he thinks he's ready to be a starter, Agholor said: "No. I have more practicing to do, more repetitions. I have great guys in front of me, and we've got a great room.''

Agholor said he doesn't think in terms of one aspect or another of learning the NFL being difficult.

"It's supposed to be uncomfortable, in a way," Agholor said. "Everything that's happened, I haven't always had my way, or it doesn't look so fluent, and that's all good stuff. Because at the end of the day, when that happens, you grow. You grow as a player and you put some stuff on film to learn from."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian