Last Stand for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside?

Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals might serve as the last opportunity the former second-round pick gets in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals might serve as the last opportunity J.J. Arcega-Whiteside gets in Philadelphia.

That might sound dramatic and the Eagles certainly should be smart enough to weather the storm of outside noise, however, that's easier said than done in today's microwave society where immediate results are expected and attention spans usually can't last a week, never mind years.

Arcega-Whiteside has been woefully ineffective in his short stint as a member of the Eagles. Coming in a highly-touted second-round pick out of Stanford in 2019, he was chosen ahead of players like D.J. Metcalf and Terry McLaurin, and JJAW has now managed just 10 receptions in 18 career games.

The effort to blame former receivers coach Carson Walch for a lack of development has seemingly derailed with Aaron Moorehead finding the same difficulties in getting Arcega-Whiteside up to speed as Philadelphia's X receiver.

Over the first two games this season, the former college star hasn't caught a pass from Carson Wentz in 44 offensive snaps and has been targeted just twice, one of which was Wentz's first interception against the Los Angeles Rams, a play Doug Pederson deemed "unacceptable" after Arcega-Whiteside's drifting route-running coupled with a late throw from the QB resulted in a devastating red-sone pick that shifted momentum back to the Rams in an ugly 37-19 setback.

Had Jalen Reagor not injured his thumb against LA and Alshon Jeffery beat his projected return date from Lisfranc surgery by a week or two, it's almost certain that Arcega-Whiteside would have been benched completely against Cincinnati.

Instead, with Jeffery still at least a week away and Reagor headed to injured reserve at some point, either Arcega-Whiteside, rookie John Hightower, or perhaps Deontay Burnett, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday, will join DeSean Jackson and Greg Ward as Wentz's "threats" at WR against the Bengals.

If pedigree weren’t in play, Burnett would probably be the choice, but the opportunity to give Arcega-Whiteside some confidence against a poor opponent might JJAW's only salvation.

"I've always been confident in J.J," said Pederson. "What I like about J.J. is he's a player that we can use in multiple positions. He knows outside. He knows inside. Smart guy, and someone that we're going to have to lean on a little bit here in these next couple of games."

Through the 0-2 start when it comes to the passing game, Pederson seems to be game-planning with Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert in mind, followed by Jackson and Reagor. Tiger personnel won the day against the Rams with two-tight end sets used 81 percent of the time.

Passing game coordinator Press Taylor says coverage is dictating the traffic.

"I think that's letting the coverage dictate where the ball should be," said Taylor when asked about getting the outside receivers more involved. "Obviously, we have an idea who our primary is on certain calls, but doesn't all work that way, and that's kind of the adjustment you have to go on some things. There have been some times those guys were featured and maybe the coverage dictated the ball goes somewhere else.

"And then there's a lot of times even with the slot receivers, we are in a lot of 12 personnel where both our slots end up being tight ends quite a bit. So the target's going to those guys."

The Eagles aren't about to feed Arcega-Whiteside anytime soon, but any opportunities he does get have to start providing positive results.

"We are not going to force balls on certain people just because we believe that's who the ball should go to on a certain play or when we call a certain play," said Taylor.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of the EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow @kracze on Twitter.