On his very first day as a Philadelphia Eagle at the NovaCare Complex, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside sat down with Paul Lancaster and felt an immediate sense of comfort.

Arcega-Whiteside felt so comfortable that he nearly fell asleep on the brown leather couch in Lancaster's office down the hall from the players' locker room. Lancaster took no offense to Arcega-Whiteside nearly dozing off. In fact, he expected it.

"As soon as everybody sits down on that couch, they fall asleep," Lancaster told Arcega-Whiteside. "If you want to take a nap, go ahead."

To be fair, the rookie receiver had good reason to be a little sleepy. He was merely hours removed from being selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, which was followed by a sudden trip to Philadelphia, where coaches and front-office staff greeted him with dozens of handshakes and hugs.

Lancaster understood this. His main concern was that Arcega-Whiteside was at ease, as that is one of the many aspects of his job as the Eagles' director of player engagement. Between the Eagles and Buffalo Bills, Lancaster has spent nearly two decades in the role. Where coaches develop players on the field, Lancaster develops them in a variety of ways off it. Rookies are required to participate in the program, but Lancaster's door is open to players of all experience levels.

At its core, Lancaster and his program provide four things to players:

1. Comfort

2. Knowledge

3. Honesty

4. Opportunity

For Eagles players, having all of that at their disposal is crucial, and it has earned Lancaster universal respect amongst them.

"What he does is unmatched," says linebacker Nigel Bradham, who has had a relationship with Lancaster dating back to his rookie season in Buffalo back in 2012. "He's extremely good at his job. He understands the players."

Comfort

At first glance, Lancaster is an imposing figure, standing at a towering 6 feet, 6 inches tall. Depending on the time of the year, he may also sport a bushy, salt-and-pepper beard that only adds to his daunting aesthetic. His personality, however, couldn't differ more.

He may talk down to a majority of the players in a literal sense, but he doesn't in a figurative one. Right off the bat, he wants to establish a genuine relationship with a player. Forging a personal relationship with the players is vital, according to Lancaster. If he doesn't know the players on a personal level, how can he help them?

"For me, above and beyond anything else, you have to start working with the players and the key to that is understanding that they're people," Lancaster says.

"Once you start to do that, you start to build a rapport with people. That's basic. Once you do that, then you start building relationships."

This is easier said than done, especially considering the age difference between Lancaster and the players. When Lancaster first held the role in Buffalo back in 2001, he was the same age as most of the veteran players. But as time has marched on, the dynamic has changed, and Lancaster has gone from what he called the "cool uncle" to more of a father figure.

Despite that, Lancaster still manages to relate to players who are, in most cases, the same age as his 21-year-old twin sons, PJ and Hunter. Lancaster uses his sons, as well as his nieces and nephews, as valuable resources of information.

"They let me know who Lil Uzi Vert was before he was mainstream," he says.

But the comfort goes well beyond being familiar with knowing the latest DaBaby track. It also goes into helping the players in matters away from the field. The money and attention that come with being a professional football player are great, but the reality of life can still affect a player as much as any normal person. With a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in counseling from California University of Pennsylvania, Lancaster is a valuable person to turn to when those tough times arise.

"I think he gives you the comfort and the confidence as well to be able to come in his office at any time, call his phone at any time, and just have a conversation or talk about what's going on through your career or what's going on in your life or if you need some help or some guidance of handling certain situations," Bradham says. "He's definitely the perfect person."

Knowledge

Lancaster has worked in the NFL since 2001, but his first love was basketball. After a promising high school career and a brief stint at the Naval Academy, Lancaster felt like he was well on his way to being basketball's next big thing.

He was right to feel that way, as he had multiple offers from Division I programs that wanted nothing more than for Lancaster to continue his basketball career with them.

But Lancaster yearned to balance basketball with something else: education. Lancaster had an interest in psychology and there just so happened to be a university near his hometown of Brownsville, Pennsylvania that had a psychology school he was interested in — California University of Pennsylvania.

Cal U is a member of Division II when it comes to athletics, but it allowed Lancaster a chance to supplement his education. Education was a priority for Lancaster and his family as a whole, as both of his parents were educators. His father, Larry, was a professor at Cal U and his mother, Adrienne, worked for Intermediate Unit 1, a public educational service agency based in Southwestern Pennsylvania. She eventually retired after being the director of special education of a school district in Pittsburgh.

Even his grandmother, Arabelle, went back to school at a later stage in her life to further her education. There was a heavy emphasis on education in the Lancaster household, and it molded and shaped Paul into the man he is today.

"It's something that's always been in me to really help guys gain the knowledge that they need to better themselves," he says. "At this point, it's not about me. It's about these young men who are going to be leaving this game and moving on to another occupation if they choose to."

Whether it's obtaining a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, or even getting an internship, Lancaster instills in players the importance of setting themselves up for life after football.