Philadelphia Eagles rookie report cards: Who’s hot, who’s not so hot
54. . . . JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Wide receiver. 19. player
When any man is taken in the second round of any draft, he’s expected to pay huge dividends. When he’s added to fill in at a position of need, the hope is he develops quickly and explodes in his first NFL season. When that doesn’t happen, there’s overreaction though, in JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s case, some of the criticism can be seen as valid.
The Eagles got virtually nothing out of the man who was billed as ‘the next Alshon Jeffery‘ in Year 1, and much of the criticism that was hurled in 19’s direction surrounded the storyline of D.K. Metcalf being taken four picks later and doing an awesome job for the Seattle Seahawks in the Pacific-Northwest.
That would be frightening if not for the fact that it’s hard to overlook the pathetic job that Philly’s former wide receiver coach Carson Walch did in 2019. We’re talking about a man who was once quoted as saying Mack Hollins was doing a great job because he ‘lined up correctly’.
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Walch was in over his head all season, and it’s his failures that probably also contribute to Arcega-Whiteside’s slow development and the position group’s underperformance as a whole. everyone took a step backward except for the new guys.
Put it this way. If the Eagles had taken Metcalf over JJ, their success levels would have flipped. Metcalf probably would have underperformed in Philly, and Arcega-Whiteside would have been a stud for Russell Wilson in Seattle. Walch was that bad. Grade: D (Below Average)