Seahawks trade Ugo Amadi for WR/TE J.J. Arcega-Whiteside from Eagles!
Seahawks trade Ugo Amadi for WR/TE J.J. Arcega-Whiteside from Eagles!
Seaside Bonus: TRADE!
Seahawks news broke on Monday morning that one of Seattle’s first five cuts this year would be fourth-year defensive back Ugo Amadi, but shortly later the news was updated to include that actually Amadi had been traded. Perhaps seeing that Amadi was on his way to waivers and wanting to assure that they would secure his services, the Philadelphia Eagles stepped up and offered the Seahawks a trade.
The Seahawks are sending Amadi to the Eagles in exchange for 2019 second round receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, unloading a player who has long since fallen out of favor in Philadelphia.
The 6’2, 225 lb Arcega-Whiteside was drafted 57th overall, going one pick after Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman and two picks ahead of Colts receiver Parris Campbell. Following four more picks, the Seattle Seahawks selected wide receiver DK Metcalf out of Ole Miss.
Now Arcega-Whiteside and Metcalf are teammates, but will that last for long?
As I wrote in Winners and Losers on Monday, the Seahawks are desperate for help with the receiving depth, but Arcega-Whiteside is not likely to change the outlook there. Despite his draft status and the Eagles’ insanely dark black hole at the position prior to drafting DeVonta Smith in 2021 and trading for A.J. Brown in 2022 (I wonder how hard Seattle tried to acquire 2020 first rounder Jalen Reagor instead), Arcega-Whiteside is more known for his last name pronounciation than anything he’s done on the field.
It is pronounced Ar(th)ega-Whiteside, as he is from Spain and doesn’t follow the same American rules on “C”.
Arcega-Whiteside caught 10 passes on 22 targets for 169 yards as a rookie, but those numbers dwarf what he’s done since: six catches for 121 yards and no touchdowns over 24 games in the last two seasons. He did play 229 special teams snaps in 2021, signaling that Seattle likes what he could bring to the coverage units. Maybe more so than Dareke Young or Bo Melton?
He was moved to TE by the Eagles earlier this year.
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Hope for Arcega-Whiteside as a wide receiver is probably unfair. Separated from his 2019 draft status after a three-year career at Stanford (63 catches, 1059 yards, 14 TD as a senior), nobody would even imagine that he could push anyone for snaps on an NFL offense. But as a consolation for releasing Ugo Amadi, the move makes sense.
A second-round pick out of Stanford in 2019, Arcega-Whiteside struggled to gain traction during three seasons in Philly. As a rookie, he caught 10 passes for 169 yards and one score in 16 games. In 2020, he snagged four passes in eight games for 85 yards. And in 2021, he netted just two receptions for 36 yards in 16 games played.
The Eagles drafted JJAW believing the big-bodied receiver could be a red-zone weapon. However, that hope quickly fizzled as the wideout struggled to gain any separation from DBs and didn't win in traffic.
It also means that since Amadi isn’t going to be one of Tuesday’s five cuts due, and Arcega-Whiteside presumably isn’t either, that means that the trade is bad news for somebody on the Seahawks. They will get one less week with the team.
Drafted two rounds after Arcega-Whiteside, Amadi saw playing time increase in each successive season, including 55-percent of the defensive snaps in 2021, but he had never had a serious grip on a single role with the defense and had fallen to the third team by Saturday’s preseason contest against the Steelers. Amadi was always active on special teams though, potentially a role that Arcega-Whiteside will fill but at a different position.
Amadi being traded helps the Seahawks figure out their numbers at defensive back and increases the odds that Marquise Blair, also a 2019 draftee, will make the team.
This is the sixth trade between John Schneider and Eagles GM Howie Roseman, both hired/promoted by their respective teams in 2010. Past trades include Michael Bennett for Marcus Johnson (a similar outcome perhaps at WR) and the Seahawks’ acquisition of Chris Clemson and a fourth round pick for Darryl Tapp in 2010.
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It's a shame that Amadi didn't pan out. His first year or two in the league looked promising. Blair seemed more promising, so it's not surprising he's the guy who's still on the team.
As for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, I'm a bit familiar because my wife's from Philly and her family is into the Eagles. Let's just say that I didn't speak much about DK at family gatherings because it was a sore spot. In fact, the less said about the Seahawks the better.
Arcega-Whiteside was clearly a bust. If he can resuscitate his career in Seattle, it will be one more thing I won't discuss. Otherwise, perhaps we can have a laugh together at some point.
My guess is both guys were about to get cut so the teams swapped. The Hawks and Eagles have long had a certain rapport at the level of executive suites. I sense an underlying relationship that both sides value and consider more important than any particular transaction.
Ucome, Ugo in the Not For Long universe.