Philadelphia Eagles: Give JJ Arcega-Whiteside more targets (seriously)

If JJ Arcega-Whiteside was an undrafted free agent, he’d surely be a Philadelphia Eagles fan favorite.

I mean, think about it; JJAW plays on special teams, runs blocks outside on screens, and remains engaged on passing downs even when he’s targeted 0.18 times per game. Had he taken a snap in the offensive backfield as a quasi-fullback on a pivotal run like he did in Week 12 under those circumstances, Eagles fans would have lost their minds, even if the play was ultimately voided by an illegal block above the waist penalty.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to divorce Arcega-Whiteside’s on-field play from where he was drafted, and who he was drafted above, even if he personally didn’t choose to end up in Philadelphia as a second-round pick.

Still, after watching Jalen Reagor and Greg Ward drop touchdowns in Week 12, it’s hard not to wonder if the former Stanford Cardinal could provide even a little bit more production than the receivers currently catching passes for the Philadelphia Eagles, especially after hauling in his second-straight catch in as many weeks.

At this point, the Philadelphia Eagles have nothing to lose by targeting JJAW.

In a perfect world, the Philadelphia Eagles would go out and add another wide receiver to take some pressure off of DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.

The problem? There really aren’t that many intriguing options.

Sure, Howie Roseman could try to coax Larry Fitzgerald out of retirement, but why would he sign with the Eagles when his Arizona Cardinals are an objectively better team? How about a second-bite at the Golden Tate apple? Sure, he signed with the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad on November 23rd, but it’s possible they don’t protect him one week, and Roseman could sweep in and steal away Darius Slay’s long-time teammate, you know, if you want to do that. Phillip Dorsett? Breshad Perriman? Antonio Gandy-Golden? All three are varying degrees of availability depending on practice squad protections and are varying degrees of upgrades over the team’s current collection of players.

Outside of elevating a practice squad receiver like Deon Cain, KeeSean Johnson, or John Hightower, the hottest name among practice squad-savvy fans, there really isn’t an ideal option who can come in, learn the playbook, and immediately become a top-four pass-catching option for Jalen Hurts and potentially Gardner Minshew in Week 13.

Need proof? Well, look at the Eagles’ receiving list in Week 12, where all five of their wide receivers were targeted at least one time by Hurts.

Though only one ball came JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s way, he caught it right around his own 20 on third-and-1 and fought all the way to the 28-yard line to keep the drive alive and the Birds out of their own endzone. Granted, that was Whiteside’s only target of the game over 15 offensive snaps, but hey, it’s not the number of times a player is targeted but what they do with those targets.

JJAW has been targeted twice on the season so far and has hauled in both of those passes for 36 yards. While that isn’t particularly impressive, as Smith quadrupled that total in Week 9 alone, both of Arcega-Whiteside’s catches went for first downs and helped to keep the Eagles’ offense moving.

If he gets targeted once, twice, maybe even three times in any given game, who is to say he couldn’t become a consistent chain mover for the Eagles offense, even if he doesn’t become a legit gamechanger or difference-maker?

At this point, where the Eagles haven’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Week 9, getting any offensive production out of one of the team’s pre-existing receivers is about as big of a W as you can land at this point in the season, especially when having JJAW on the field gives Nick Sirianni the added bonus of having one of the better blocking receivers in the league on the field.

Will JJ Arcega-Whiteside ever become even an average starting-caliber wide receiver? Probably not. Will JJ Arcega-Whiteside be a member of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 on a second contract, let alone in his 2022 contract year? Debatable. But right now, heading into Week 13 of the 2021 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles would be silly not to at least give JJAW a few targets per game moving forward, as they really don’t have any better options on the open market or in the pipeline.