Is JJ Arcega-Whiteside on the Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia Enforcers?

At Wednesday’s season-ending press conference, Nick Sirianni declared JJ Arcega-Whiteside the enforcer:

“We’re kind of having this conversation, asking me about wide-outs, we’re kind of painting the picture the same way, Howie and I would talk about it, what do you need for the room? You have that blocking element of  J.J. J.J. did a really good job in his role this year of our enforcer. Of our guy that would go out and get blocks when we needed him to pave the way for the No. 1 rush offense in the NFL.”

Donald Brashear, Dave Schultz, Craig Berube, and now add JJ Arcega-Whiteside to the list of enforcers that kept that blue collar toughness in Philadelphia no matter the on field results. Your Mount Rushmore of Philly enforcers you say? That will be for Kevin to decide.

Nick isn’t wrong. There were plenty of times JJAW threw some downfield blocks this year that got the timeline buzzing:

Cool variation off split IZ

Instead of kicking out the end man on the line (Means washes down), Sirianni dials up a nice play design having JJAW crack on the CB and Goedert as a lead block on the perimeter pic.twitter.com/FowmahNPKT

— Derek Mountain (@DerekMountain) September 14, 2021

#Eagles J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was the highest rated run blocker (at all positions) in Week 1 according to @PFF.

I don’t care if he ends the season with 0 receptions. If he can block like he did on Sunday, he did his job.

JJAW was also inches away from blocking a punt Sunday. pic.twitter.com/HbCNeOyaS2

— Luke Stansfield (@Luke_StansNFL) September 15, 2021

Love this play of JJ Arcega-Whiteside casually clamping one of the best edge rushers in the league Brian Burns on a block. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/wMWHdPlR4b

— Darren Healey (@610Media_Darren) October 11, 2021

Sidenote: you have to be a real sicko to clip JJAW blocks on a Monday. 

The only problem is when you’re drafted as high as JJAW was, in a skill position, you need immediate impact and need to be more than an enforcer. But Nick was in a no-win situation when he was asked if the Eagles needed another wide receiver to put the group over the top. You could see the wheels spinning in Sirianni’s head – “say something nice about JJ. say something nice about JJ,” after he buried Jalen Reagor on the depth chart moments earlier while the guy who drafted both is sitting six inches away. Credit to Nick for finding anything positive to say about the winner for “least productive WR drafted in the 1st or 2nd round ever” (via Reuben Frank at NBC Sports Philadelphia) –

And Howie Roseman definitely noticed the lengths Nick went to pull that out of his ass.

“Thanks man.” 

“Love you bro.”

“Thanks man.”

“Love you bro.” pic.twitter.com/UcHwO02UAh

— Everything’s Phine (@evrythingsphine) January 19, 2022

Now that that’s over, fingers crossed Kevin didn’t scroll down this far while editing… I present to you my Philadelphia Enforcer Mount Rushmore™

Donald Brashear 

Riley Cote 

Anytime you can plant some guy and he has an absolute meltdown your face gets carved into granite:

Dave “The Hammer” Schultz

My dad gave me a hammer signed by Dave Schultz. Came home with a hammer and just gave it to me, like “here”. Wasn’t a huge Flyers fan either. Never watched Dave Schultz play, but I hung it up because it had a signature on it. Just like I hung up my World B. Free signed poster and my Matt and Pat Carroll signed Charlotte Bobcats towel. Looking back, I might’ve had the worst wall of sports memorabilia per capita in the Delaware Valley.

JJAW

Maybe if his finger wasn’t in a state of permanent shocker we could’ve seen some of those 5, 10, 15, and 20 yard runs on Sunday:

(photos credit: JJAW’s mom’s Twitter account)

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