JJ Arcega-Whiteside Needs To Take ‘Big Jump’ Or Else
JJ Arcega-Whiteside can’t play a lick. If you can scout at all, you should have known that going into the 2019 NFL Draft. Arcega-Whiteside was on my list of guaranteed busts during the draft. He was a jump ball receiver that wasn’t that tall, with limited speed, and zero route tree. The former Stanford receiver leaned on boxing out receivers and hoping he came down with it like trying to grab a rebound. Of course, that shit wasn’t going to work at the NFL level.
After a horrendous rookie season, the Eagles are now putting pressure on their former 2nd round pick. Roseman recently spoke to the team reporters. When asked about JJ Arcega-Whiteside, he kept it brief.
Translation: If Arcega-Whiteside doesn’t improve by leaps and bounds over the offseason, he’s getting cut or traded if someone is dumb enough to take him.
The expectation is the Eagles will draft a receiver during the 2020 NFL Draft. It’s a big area of need. Nelson Agholor left to sign with the Raiders this offseason. DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are both question marks in terms of health. That leaves just Greg Ward.
The good news is, Arcega-Whiteside literally can’t get worse. The former Stanford product had 10 catches for 169 yards and a touchdown last year. The bad news is he has no talent so he probably won’t get much better.
Regardless of how bad Arcega-Whiteside is, Howie Roseman shared his thoughts on where the team stands at the position.
“We do view the receiver position maybe different than it’s publicly viewed,” Roseman said the other day during a conference call with Eagles reporters. “I understand where we were towards the end of the (2019) year and who was out there and we’ve gotta increase the talent level, but we’re also excited to get some of those guys back who were not healthy and we’re also excited for some young guys to take another step.
“Now, that doesn’t mean that we’re done addressing it, that we’re not going to look for opportunities to improve that position, but we don’t have the luxury of being in a vacuum and just looking at the receiver position. … I think, overall, we’re happy with where we are right now knowing that we still have other areas to improve.”
