The Speedster and Hockey Enforcer Have Work Cut Out to Make Eagles Roster

PHILADELPHIA – One has blur-inducing speed, the other is what head coach Nick Sirianni called a “hockey enforcer.”

Neither one of them is named A.J. Brown, who the Eagles introduced on Monday, just three days after trading a pair of draft picks, including a first-round selection, to the Titans for the pass-catching marvel who is a yards-after-catch maestro.

The speedy one, that’s Devon Allen, and what a show he put on at the Penn Relays on Saturday, when the Eagles were putting the finishing touches on their 2022 draft class. The two-time Olympian sizzled to a meet record 13.11 in the 110-hurdles with new teammate Darius Slay cheering him on.

“Obviously with Devon, you see just flat-out speed,” said Sirianni on Saturday night. “One thing that was really cool I thought is that his teammates being there to support him and connect with him while he ran in the Penn Relays this weekend.

“I think there's something out there with Slay being right there on the track. … He is a phenomenal teammate, and he was right there with him watching him win the 110 hurdles. What did he run, a 13.1, 13.11? Yeah, that's amazing. Obviously, his speed, we were really excited about that.”

Devon Allen (@DevonAllen13) Penn Relays record 13.11!#FlyEaglesFly @Eagles pic.twitter.com/d8PlI8TjvB
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) April 30, 2022

Obviously, Allen isn’t just a novelty item.

Never mind that he hasn’t played a down of football in six years, the Eagles want to see what he can do, and, even though the room got a bit more crowded with the trade for Brown, the free-agent signing of Zach Pascal, and bringing in Britain Covey as an undrafted free agent, maybe Allen can carve a niche and make the roster at age 27.

“I think (Saturday) was awesome, probably the best atmosphere I’ve been to in track and field outside maybe an Olympic final,” Allen said after the race.

“This is kind of like my coming out party to Philadelphia. I went to the Sixers game on Monday, the playoff game, and I saw firsthand the swings of the fans. So, if I can get in their good graces to start, that’ll be good for my career for sure.”

The Sirianni-dubbed hockey enforcer is J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.

Prior to the draft, the Eagles decided to offer the former second-round pick a chance to move from receiver to tight end. At least, it would appear it was the Eagles’ decision when Sirianni said, “we are excited about the project that we have at hand for him.”

At 6-2, 225, Arcega-Whiteside doesn’t have the typical size you’d like to see in a tight end, but it’s easy to understand the thought process.

“He was a heavier wide receiver, and it's not going to be hard for him to put on some weight and take his athleticism over to the tight end side where he can create a little bit different mismatches there against safeties and linebackers as opposed to corners and nickels,” said Sirianni.

“So, I think that will help J.J. Last year he was our, what you would call our enforcer, right, our hockey enforcer as far as you go in there and you block this guy and get physical with him, and he did a really good job with that.

“I think we saw the talent there that he's got some nastiness to him, some feistiness to him. He showed it on special teams as well. And now he's going to try to do that at tight end.”

Still, the Eagles didn’t scrap their plan of drafting another tight end even with the move of Arcega-Whiteside, selecting SMU’s Grant Calcaterra in the sixth round, their final overall pick of the draft.

If Arcega-Whiteside is to give wings to a career that never really got off the ground, he will have to fend off challenges from not only Calcaterra but Tyree Jackson, Richard Rodgers, and Noah Togiai to win a job behind Dallas Goedert and probably Jack Stoll.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.