Amidst a day of roster cuts and player activations and signings, a rare player-for-player swap is taking place. The Eagles are sending tight end J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to the Seahawks in exchange for safety Ugo Amadi (Twitter link via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero). 
Arcega-Whiteside was one of several notable draft investments the Eagles have made at the wide receiver position recently. The 2019 second-rounder came to Philadelphia with significant expectations given his size (six-foot-two, 225 pounds) and production at Stanford. Things haven’t gone according to plan, however, as he has failed to secure a full-time starting role across three seasons in the NFL.
After totaling just 16 catches in his first 40 games, the Eagles decided this offseason to move the 25-year-old to tight end. With the likes of first-rounders Jalen Reagor and DeVonta Smith, as well as draft-day trade acquisition A.J. Brown at the position, that transition was Arcega-Whiteside’s clearest path to playing time. The same may not be true in Seattle, however; Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets that the Seahawks plan to play Arcega-Whiteside at WR, where he will compete for a secondary role behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
The news of a trade is particularly noteworthy in Amadi’s case. ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported (on Twitter) earlier today that the 25-year-old was going to be among the Seahawks’ first round of roster cuts. By acquiring him via trade, the Eagles avoid the possibility of another team claiming him. A fourth-round pick in the same draft as Arcega-Whiteside, Amadi started 12 games between 2020 and 2021. He played a career-high 691 defensive snaps last season, and recorded 54 tackles for the second consecutive season.
The five-foot-nine, 201-pounder will add depth on the backend for the Eagles. Safety was seen as an area of need for much of the offseason after the departure of Rodney McLeod, and Amadi will now look to carve out at least a rotational role behind starters Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps.
Both players will get a fresh start in advance of a contract year, and look to build their free agent values while reinforcing potential weak points on their new teams’ respective rosters.
LOL someone wants JJAW?
One man’s trash is another man’s trash
Going to cut a guy why not trade him for “trash”? At worst you can cut the “trash” later on. Don’t think there will be a ton of playing time he has a few incumbents ahead of him.
Shows that honestly, you are not sinking the season if you are making moves to improve. Or if you let the player go, now they are getting a chance to catch on somewhere else.
Reality is, if there was a preseason MNF Game this trade would not have even come across Adam La Rose to do list.
I’m rooting for Bo Melton from RU to make the Seahawks roster, so this is not a welcome development for him.
Ugo…Get.Scram.Cya.Beat It.Buh-Bye!
Don’t know much about Whiteside other than he hasn’t live up to his 2nd round draft status. As for Amadi, the dude is awful. Never in the right spot and can’t tackle.
If you or I were as tall as JJAW than we’d be able to outperform him. Dude can’t catch a football, plain and simple.
I did see him play in college, I get it, totally different game. Regardless, thanks for the info, I don’t watch Eagles games very often as a Seahawks fan. And, I stand by my statement, Amadi is awful.
Eagles need S help and Seattle is trying out some WR at the end of the roster. Just a need-for-need deal.
Eagles got a steal.
Probably a larger package offer
This is like when you were in elementary school and traded the crappy bag of celery sticks mom gave you for your friends crappy bag of carrot sticks – no one really wins no one really loses just get different crap.
I’m taking carrot sticks over celery all day every day man. Unless the celery has peanut butter on it.
And I’m taking celery all day every day, good to have a trade partner.
Back in the 60s when I was in elementary school, the plan was to get a girl into the cloak room and trade something besides vegetables.
I think this is a bit of a marginal salary cap move by the Eagles. The Safety they got only cost 150k against the Cap if he’s released, but think JJAW counts like 1 million against the Cap if released.