Philadelphia Eagles: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside has career day, kind of

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside sneaks into the Philadelphia Eagles box score.

No one thought when Week 6’s game kicked off that J.J. Arcega-Whiteside would leave his mark on two of the biggest plays that the Philadelphia Eagles produced in a two-point loss to the Baltimore Ravens. It certainly didn’t happen how people expected. In the third quarter, while blocking downfield on a long run by ’26’, Miles Sanders had the ball poked loose and ‘JJAW’ was the beneficiary. ’19’ pounced on the ball for the Eagles first touchdown of the game and the second-year wideout’s first touchdown of the 2020 season.

‘JJAW’ certainly hasn’t been anything close to being the receiver that he was expected to be, but let’s give him a little credit here. This one was eerily similar to Miles Sanders’ 74-yard run versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5. ‘JJAW; was downfield and throwing a key block on that one as well.

Call it dumb luck or being in the right place at the right time, but with how ugly Philly’s offense looked for the majority of the day, it seemed fitting that this would be the way the Eagles offense made a dent on the scoreboard.

Later, Carson Wentz threw up a prayer that Travis Fulgham hauled in to keep this team within striking distance. They still needed the two-point conversion to make it a one-score game though, and that’s where ‘JJAW’ came in. Wentz motioned him in from the sideline towards the offensive line. ‘JJAW’ ran a nice route to the corner of the end zone and ’11’ hit him for an easy conversion on the two-point conversion to keep the Eagles’ hopes alive. Unfortunately, if you’re an Eagles fan, there’s no way to determine when anyone will see anything like that from ’19’ again.

What does the future look like for the Philadelphia Eagles second-round pick?

It’s sad that this type of performance could garner consideration as being a career day for a former second-round selection, but that’s exactly the case. Let’s put this another way. Arcega-Whiteside’s two-year career has been tough to watch. Sure, ‘JJAW’ is seeing the field, but it appears that the ‘Birds’ seem to favor Fulgham, John Hightower, and Greg Ward.

Then, there’s something else to consider. What happens when this team gets healthier at the receiver position? Might ‘JJAW’ be buried on the bench? It’s a strong possibility because Fulgham looks to be the player that JJ Arcega-Whiteside was supposed to be.

Sure, it would be nice if Philly could have just avoided all of this by drafting D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin, Diontae Johnson, or Darius Slayton instead of the guy that they actually rolled the dice on, but that’s in the past now. The ‘Birds’ are converting Hakeem Butler to tight end, so maybe they might consider doing the same with ‘JJAW’? Blocking a defensive back downfield is certainly different than the responsibilities a tight end has when asked to block, but you never know. It might be worth a shot.

It looks like Zach Ertz might be stumbling through his final season in Philly. The Eagles need to groom a second tight end behind Goedert for the future if that is, indeed, the plan. Jalen Reagor, Alshon Jeffery, and DeSean Jackson are all expected to return at some points during the coming weeks. That means there won’t be many snaps available for Arcega-Whiteside. At this point, a switch to tight end or a change of scenery might be the only hope for ‘JJAW’ to have any success in the NFL. It’s unlikely that the Eagles will make that change, but this might be his only real shot at success.