Philadelphia Eagles: Arcega-Whiteside adds depth at wide receiver
With the 57th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside out of Stanford, whose skills match a familiar name.
The Philadelphia Eagles made it a priority adding offensive line depth to help protect QB Carson Wentz during yesterday’s first round when they chose Washington State tackle Andre Dillard. Now today with two picks in the second round, Howie Roseman and Co. made it a priority adding some new toys to help Wentz and the offense put up some points.
After selecting Penn State running back Miles Sanders with the 53rd overall pick, the Eagles nabbed 6-foot-3 wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside out of Stanford four slots later.
Just who is this redshirt junior that will now be joining the Eagles nest? According to pre-draft evaluations by NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein:
"“Big, strong target who plays like he’s big and strong and gets more and more dangerous the closer he gets to the red zone. Arcega-Whiteside plays with functional quickness in spurts, but not enough to get away from tight coverage and he won’t run by many NFL cornerbacks on go routes. However, his basketball bloodlines are on full display every time the ball is in the air, using his body control and ball skills to excel at combat catches and back-shoulder throws. Arcega-Whiteside may not be explosive, but his competitive nature should help make him a future NFL starter.”"
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While Zierlein compares JJAW (as I’ll refer to him from here on out) as an Eric Decker-type, others have offered a more recognizable comparison in skillset to the Eagles own Alshon Jeffery: a big-bodied receiver known for his ability to post-up defenders and come down with a jump ball.
Born in Spain before settling down in South Carolina, JJAW was a three-sport star in high school competing in football, basketball and track-and-field. The son of two professional basketball players, JJAW earned all-state honors in basketball and won the state’s 2015 Gatorade Player of the Year award in football as a senior.
During three seasons at Stanford, the 225-pound receiver amassed 2,219 reception yards and 28 touchdowns, collecting second-team All-Pac-12 honors for the 2018 campaign.
Furthermore, in 135 college games, JJAW was targeted 215 times and only dropped eight balls making the red-shirt junior among the most efficient wide receivers in the nation.
For a late second round pick, that’s a pretty incredible value.
As it stands, the Eagles have a loaded wide receiver corp with Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, and Nelson Agholor slated to start. 2017 draft picks Mack Hollins, and Shelton Gibson round out the group along with JJAW.
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Add in tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, and Carson Wentz has a lot of capable targets to spread the wealth all over the field, and especially in the red zone.