Eagles sign wide receiver who played at St. Joe’s Prep
Veteran wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, a South Jersey native and St. Joes Prep graduate, is signing with the Eagles, his agency announced Wednesday on Twitter.
Zaccheaus, who stands 5-foot-8, 195 pounds, made the Falcons as an undrafted rookie out of Virginia in 2019 and spent the last four seasons in Atlanta, playing in 55 games with 23 starts and catching 94 passes for 1,328 yards and eight touchdowns.
He played a career-high 737 snaps last year 70 percent of the Falcons offensive snaps and established career-bests with 40 catches for 533 yards with three TDs, second-best numbers on the Falcons last year.
His best game came in 2020, when he caught four passes for 103 yards in a 34-27 win over the Broncos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Zaccheaus was almost exclusively an outside receiver his first two years, with 59 slot snaps and 319 outside. The last two years, he split time inside and out, with 630 snaps in the slot and 702 outside.
At 5-8, Zaccheaus would be among the Eagles shortest wide receivers ever. Gizmo Williams, who was on the 1989 roster, was 5-6 but never caught a pass. Jeff Sydner, who was also 5-6, caught three passes for 52 yards in 1993 and 1994. Chad Hall, Britain Covey and DeAndre Hall were all also 5-8 but were primarily or exclusively returners.
Zaccheaus becomes part of a position group with the Eagles that has some question marks beyond superstars A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Quez Watkins has 76 catches and over 1,000 yards over the last two years but had a disappointing 2022 season, culminating in a devastating drop of a deep ball in the Super Bowl. After that, there are guys like Greg Ward, who has seven catches the last two years, Covey, Devon Allen and Tyrie Cleveland.
“Hes dependable, smart, can play multiple spots, Falcons coach Arthur Smith said about Zaccheaus before last season, according to SI.com. Thats a very underrated position when you get to gameday,” Smith said. “In any industry, if you were going to look for somebody to hire for a job, he would be a guy I would highly recommend.
Zaccheus grew up in North Jersey before his family moved to South Jersey when he was 7. He grew up in Magnolia and played high school football at St. Joes Prep in Philly, where he was a teammate of Jon Runyan Jr., now with the Packers.
Other notable NFL players from St. Joes Prep include Rich Gannon, DAndre Swift and Mount Laurels Victor Hobson.
Playing both receiver and running back at Virginia, Zaccheaus rushed for 551 yards and two TDs and caught 250 passes for 2,753 yards and 22 TDs. Over the 2017 and 2018 seasons, his 178 receptions were most in the BCS.
