Imagine this -- you head into work tomorrow, and you don't know what position you will be filling. For some that might be a normal day at the office, for others it might cause a panic attack or unrelenting stress. For a rookie wide receiver that is still trying to learn a playbook and get accustomed to NFL life, it seems a bit more difficult. On top of that, hobbled by injuries, and unable to get on the field compounds any stunted growth.
J.J Arcega Whiteside spoke on a Spanish interview and opened up a bit about his rookie season.
In the interview, Arcega-Whiteside mentioned how difficult it was to master the playbook, especially when he didn't know what wideout position he was playing going into the game. As a rookie, it isn't necessarily easy grasping the full playbook early in the year, especially for the X, Y, and Z positions. As fans, we wonder why guys like Terry McLaurin and DK Metcalf had spectacular rookie years, and why JJAW flopped. A large portion of that was due to the fact that the Eagles may have thrown too much at Arcega-Whiteside too early. In addition to information overload, JJAW brought to light another issue that impacted his rookie campaign. Injuries.
One would be shocked to learn that an Eagles wide receiver maintained a clean bill of health throughout the entire 2019 season with the way the depth chart ended up. It comes to almost no surprise that JJAW also opened up about injuries that impacted his rookie year. This would make sense given JJAW lack of reps on the field. Obviously, not grasping the full playbook and confusion about what role he was playing had a bit to do with that as well. That leads to the next point -- if the Eagles knew JJAW was having issues grasping the numerous positions at once, while being injured, why didn't they keep things simple?
This may have ended up costing Carson Welch his job as the receivers coach. The Eagles' wide receiver position has been a nightmare over the past two seasons, and the first place fans look is at the coach of the position group. The best coaches will put their players in the best position to be successful - and that was not the case with Arcega-Whiteside. With the Eagles bringing in a new coaching regime, it will be Aaron Moorehead's duty to get receivers like JJAW and the three rookies up to speed (no pun intended).
