Eagles Believe In Healthy J.J. Arcega-Whiteside

Buried in one of Howie Roseman’s off-season conference calls with reporters was an acknowledgment regarding the health of J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.

“J.J. is a guy that when we drafted had some lower-body stuff that he was dealing with,” said the Eagles' general manager.

That little nugget came before the draft when Roseman was trying to spin and obfuscate away from the organization’s obvious need at the position claiming his mindset at WR "may be different than it’s publicly viewed.”

The old adage in the NFL, however, is to watch what an organization does, not what it says, and the Eagles carpet-bombed the position last month not only taking a receiver in the first round - TCU’s Jalen Reagor - but also using two later-round selections on John Hightower and Quez Watkins, and trading for veteran Marquise Goodwin.

The trait all four newcomers have in common is speed. A need still exists at X receiver, though with Alshon Jeffery still in the midst of recovery from Lisfranc surgery and no guarantee to be back.

That's where Arcega-Whiteside presumably fits and the Stanford product opened up about his health when discussing his disappointing rookie campaign on the Spanish podcast “100 yardas.”

“Lesiones es la mas grande cosa,” JJAW told the hosts. “Porque yo, lesiones de yo, y lesiones de todos mas, porque yo tambien tenia algunas de lesiones, pero no estan mal con los nosotros. Pero una si, esta la mañana, yo tenia que ayudarme a dar el baño, porque estan mal.”

Loosely translated with the help of Google translate, Arcega-Whiteside was explaining he was so banged-up at one point late last season he needed help in the bathroom.

On the surface, when you compare JJAW to the immediate impact by some receivers chosen after him in the draft, players like Seattle's DK Metcalf and Washington's Terry McLaurin, his selection at No. 57 overall seems like a poor one.

He went seven spots ahead of the gifted Metcalf, who souces told SI.com wasn't even on Philadelphia's draft board, and a whopping 19 spots ahead of McLaurin, who tortured the Eagles' secondary to the tune of 10 receptions on 12 targets for 255 yards in the two games between the division rivals.

Other immediate difference-makers were also chosen in the second round before Arcega-Whiteside, players like San Francisco's Deebo Samuel, Tennessee's A.J. Brown, and Kansas City's Mecole Hardman, making Roseman’s decision the sore thumb in the process.

Those are exit polls, however, and final results will be tallied in three years.

“I understand the passion about receiver,” said Roseman, who isn't about to give up either.

"We know the biggest jump is in Year 1 to Year 2. Now, we’ll see how this all goes with the offseason program."

Maybe the best in-house comparison is linebacker Nate Gerry on the defensive side of the ball, who persevered through a core-muscle injury to become a favorite of both Jim Schwartz and his position coach Ken Flajole.

While fans lamented what Gerry couldn’t do, the coaching staff had more information and was marveling at what Gerry did do considering his circumstances.

In the case of Arcega-Whiteside, he didn’t even offer Gerry-level production but he does seem to have won over some in the organization with a willingness to play through some things.

That said, grading on a curve is now over.

“He’s fully healthy," said Roseman, "and he needs to take a big jump."

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen