April 26, 2019

Eagles select Stanford WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside with 57th pick in 2019 NFL Draft

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

In the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, with the 57th overall pick, the Philadelphia Eagles selected WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside.

Arcega-Whiteside is a very interesting choice, in that he has a similar skill set to that of Alshon Jeffery. In 2018, he had 68 catches for 1059 yards and an impressive 14 TDs. A highlight reel:

At WR1, Alshon Jeffery was playing on low cap numbers, until now. He'll cost $14,725,000 on the cap in 2019, and $15,975,000 both in 2020 and 2021. The front office has cleared up a lot of immediate cap space by restructuring the contracts of players they believe are slam-dunk long-term Eagles, by converting their base salaries in signing bonuses, and stretching out their cap hit over the life of the contract (and beyond). It's perhaps interesting that they have not done the same with Jeffery. The reality is that Jeffery is going to have to continue to perform to see that money.

The Eagles' depth chart at wide receiver currently looks something like this:

WR	1	2
WR1	Alshon Jeffery	JJ Arcega-Whiteside
WR2	DeSean Jackson	Shelton Gibson
Slot WR	Nelson Agholor	Mack Hollins	Braxton Miller

Also noteworthy is that there have been several reports this offseason that Nelson Agholor is available for trade. The Eagles exercised Agholor's fifth-year option last offseason, and he is on the Eagles' salary cap in 2019 at $9,387,000, which is now fully guaranteed. The Eagles would incur a dead money charge of the full $9,387,000 if they cut him, however, they would save the full $9,387,000 if they traded him for literally anything.

The Eagles are currently loaded up at wide receiver. I would expect to see further roster movement there.