JJAW(S) of Life: The Good, Bad, and Ugly – What’s Next for Arcega-Whiteside
The Philadelphia Eagles offense is set to look a lot different this upcoming season.
Aside from the fact that Doug Pederson said so himself, the Eagles offense has seen a makeover of sorts.
As it currently stands last year’s first-round pick Andre Dillard is scheduled to start at left tackle, with the departure of all-pro Jason Peters. The Eagles also watched as Jordan Howard and Nelson Agholor found new homes via free agency. The committee of Sanders-Scott-Clement(?) should pick right up where they left off to end last season (at least Sanders and Scott as Clement has some work to do).
Filling the void created by Howard’s absence shouldn’t be a difficult task for Philadelphia.
As for the wide receiver position, well…
DeSean Jackson
The cream of the crop, WR1 then, now, and forever. Barring something derailing his season like an injury.
But what are the odds of that…Right?
Alshon Jeffery
Well for starters, it sounds as if he’ll be back on the team. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.. or has it. Either way, you can’t ignore what he can do when healthy. Or even unhealthy, when you mention it.
I mean, the guy helped lead us to a Super Bowl on a torn rotator cuff. Not to mention in his last full game he put up 137 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions.
Jalen Reagor
Thank you Howie Roseman and hello to the burning from TCU. Quarterback play did Reagor no favors in his final season at TCU but if you don’t believe the hype the 2018 tape will serve you just fine. The kid can play simply put. While there are plenty of critics among the general public in regards to the selection.
This young man is going to make an impact early and often. His abilities matched with the quarterback play of one Carson Wentz? Match. Made. In. Heaven.
Greg Ward
The sad reality is that Ward will have to fight for a roster spot on one of the deepest wide receivers groups in recent Eagles memory. Still, Ward has experience at his disposal, with his performance down the stretch of the 2019 season.
Ward knows the offense, he has shown he can perform more than adequately at the slot position and has earned the trust of Carson Wentz. If anyone is going to unseat Ward for a roster spot, it will be easier said than done.
Marquise Goodwin
Well, you all asked for speed right? Well, Marquise Goodwin has world-class speed. No, literally Marquise Goodwin is a two time NCAA champion (2010, 2012) in the long jump, a four-time All-American in track and field, and even competed in the 2012 London Olympics and placed 10th in the long jump.
You can’t really ask for much more right?
John Hightower
Despite being selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the product of Boise State has a lot of good to his game. Hightower ran a 4.43 at the NFL Combine in February, which is pretty good. However that doesn’t exactly replicate his abilities on the football field as the young man from Landover, Maryland is a true deep threat and will run past and way from you if you underestimate his game speed.
Hightower is a prime candidate to fill the Nelson Agholor role as he has a lot of similar traits. I’ll let you decide if that’s good or bad, either way, this young man will be a contributor in some way, shape, or form.
Quez Watkins
Ahh, small school, big skill set. Want to guess Watkins’ best trait? Well, I’ll give you a hint, he ran a 4.35 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine. A legit burner! While Watkins is a long shot for a roster spot, it’s worth noting he fits the mold of exactly what the Eagles were looking for in terms of players at the wide receiver position.
Watkins has to have a big camp and maybe even pre-season if he plans on making the squad but definitely possesses the skill set to do exactly that.
Certainly, what could be considered a loaded group in terms of what the position has seen recently.
Yet with all of the players discussed, where does that leave last year’s second-round pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside?
Well, Arcega-Whiteside doesn’t exactly possess the speed his competition does, and let’s face it, his rookie season was bad. He showed some good in the process but there was also a lot of work to be done in the meantime.
But let’s be clear, Arcega-Whiteside is aware of the narrative surrounding him. He’s fully aware that D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown, Deebo Samuel, and Terry McLaurin, each made their mark on the league while he made little to no impact on his team, let alone the league.
“I can’t pinpoint exactly one thing,” he said. “It’s not the want-to, I’ll tell you that. It’s not hard work. I put in a lot of hard work, a lot of extra hours in, and it didn’t pay off right now, but eventually, it will.” – J.J. Arcega-Whiteside
To put this into perspective Arcega-Whiteside finished the season with ten catches, 169 yards, and one touchdown. DeSean Jackson had eight receptions, 154 yards, and two touchdowns in the first game. Obviously, the talent is there, in three years at Stanford he produced 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns on 135 receptions. This including the final season that saw him amass 1,039 yards and 14 touchdowns on 63 receptions.
The question after the 2019 season, however, was what went wrong, and is it salvageable?
Now heading into the 2020 season with redemption on his mind, the question for Arcega-Whiteside is how to fix the issue?
The Good
Oh, how it started so well….
At 6’2/225 pounds, Arcega-Whiteside made a living off of his abilities in contested catch situations and was almost immediately dubbed the successor to Alshon Jeffery. It seems like an eternity ago doesn’t it? However, for those who seemed to have lost hope on the Stanford product should remember there have been 30 receivers selected in the first two rounds [2008-2017] that have finished their rookie seasons with fewer than 400 yards.
Among those are names are a few people you’ve probably heard of a few times before. Randall Cobb, Alshon Jeffery, Mike Williams, and Golden Tate. So there is certainly an opportunity for Arcega-Whiteside to turn it around despite a slow start to his career.
The Bad
One can only wonder looking back at how the 2019 wide receiver position was set up, how much success could J.J. Arcega-Whiteside truly had? As we mentioned before he was bought in to be a replacement of sorts for Alshon Jeffery. However, despite Doug Pederson stating how the team only wanted to play Arcega-Whiteside to fill the “X” receiver, injuries forced the team into other plans. Which resulted in what seemed to cause a set back in development for Arcega-Whiteside.
Even in his original Alshon Jeffery role, during weeks two and three when Arcega-Whiteside stepped in for an injured Jeffery, in games where he took 75 snaps and 53 snaps respectively. He was only able to produce two catches and 14 yards.
Speaking of injuries, during an interview on a primarily Spanish podcast, Arcega-Whiteside opened up about how he suffered from injuries of his own that impacted what he was able to do from a performance standpoint.
“Injury was the biggest problem. Because I was injured and everyone else’s injuries, because I also had some injuries, but not so bad with the others. Still, every morning I had to ask someone to help me go to the bathroom, that’s how bad it was.” – J.J. Arcega-Whiteside
Now that Arcega-Whiteside has a full offseason under his belt and is generally healthy as the young man said himself “It’s only up from here.”
The Ugly
Things for Arcega-Whiteside would be considerably better however if things like this didn’t happen:
Well, there’s this.
Photo: Bob Grotz/21 Century Media
Also, when you’re your best trait is making contested catches you should probably be able to catch these balls to avoid these moments.
Featured Image: Getty Images
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Categorized:Eagles