J.J. Arcega-Whiteside Knows he Wasn't Good Enough, Says This Year Will be Different

PHILADELPHIA – J.J. Arcega-Whiteside saw the same thing Eagles fan saw during his 2019 rookie season, a player who struggled mightily.

“You turn on the TV, you could see it,” said Arcega-Whiteside following Thursday’s training camp practice.

The second-round pick from Stanford returned home in the offseason and did not sugarcoat his season with family and close friends.

“I kept it real with them,” said the second-year receiver. “I wasn’t good enough. It’s definitely going to be different this year.”

To recap the ugliness that was last year: he was slow, he ran routes that lacked precision, his timing and chemistry with Carson Wentz seemed off, and his hands, at times, looked cast in cement.

“It wasn’t good enough,” said Arcega-Whiteside. “But 2019 is in the past. I look back at it now and I’m thinking, man, I’m a totally different player than I was then. I kind of laugh about it because I don’t even know who that was.

“Some people get in the NFL, things are moving fast and it’s hard to keep up, some people ball out their first year, but I look back at it and I’m not even the same guy so I’m not even worried about what happened last year.”

It wasn’t so much the injury situation that hampered Arcega-Whiteside, at least that he would admit.

“It’s football, it’s what you expect,” said JJAW, who added that it was the first time he wasn’t able to fully recover from an injury like he did in high school or college when he never had one linger for more than a week or two.

He made it sound like information overload was a big part of his struggles last year. In other words, he was thinking too much.

“Mentally, I don’t come into the building (now) thinking what plays do I have, what do I need to do, how do I need to do it, coming in with questions, questioning things,” he said. “I come into the building ready to have fun and play ball. I’m out there interacting with the guys.

“I don’t go into practice with a script in my hand trying to memorize the plays that I have. I’m in the huddle, you call the play, I know what I have to do. Now I can play faster, I can play more confidently and show everybody what I can do instead of trying to do the right thing.”

So, what can he do that wasn’t evident in 2019?

Arcega-Whiteside said he got faster after working out with a track coach for a couple of hours each day during workouts that ran about seven hours in length daily.

“That was something that I worked on this offseason because I can run,” he said. “I didn’t prove it last year. This year, we wanted speed, so I got my speed up, too, just so I can show them that we have a receiving corps full of fast guys, not just one, two, or three guys. Everybody on this receiving corps can run.”

He still doesn’t look ready to win a footrace with the three new rookies – Jalen Reagor, John Hightower or Quez Watkins – but he’s dealing out wisdom on his experiences from a season ago, unfazed, he said, by the Eagles’ decision to spend a first-round pick on Reagor then add two more pass-catchers to the competition mix.

Arcega-Whiteside bought a JUGs machine to work on catching, he swam in a pool for endurance, and he lost five to seven pounds.

“I came in last year on the heavy side,” he said. “This year when I came in, I was eight pounds less from when I came in last year. … Definitely a lot lighter.”

Before diving into getting better, though, he took some time off and got away from the game, something he was told to by those in his supports system in order to mentally and physically reset.

As challenging as the offseason was without any OTAs and minicamp, the virtual program may have helped him more than others, because he spent it with family, even though he saw very little of them with his lengthy workout regimen.

“Maybe like 30, 40 minutes (I) got to spend time just hanging out with my family,” said Arcega-Whiteside. “They were athletes, they understand the drive that I have and needed to have for this offseason. We definitely had a collective effort in getting me where I want to go.”

Head coach Doug Pederson said he has noticed a difference.

“I think the number one thing is he came in in the right frame of mind,” said the Eagles coach prior to Thursday’s practice. “He had an entire off-season to really work. Obviously, it was virtual and it was a little bit different, but he had a chance to get stronger, a chance to detail his work, and he came in in the right frame of mind, great attitude.”

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