It’s been a few days since the Eagles sent shock waves through the fanbase with their selection of Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, and finding logical justification for the pick is still nearly impossible.
Second round picks are usually expected to contribute year one. Last year we got Miles Sanders and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the second round. Sanders proved to be the running back of the future, while the jury’s still out on JJAW, although he inspired little confidence during his first year.
The year before that, the Eagles took Dallas Goedert, who totaled 33 receptions for 334 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie.
In regards to Hurts, or anyone you bring in to be your backup quarterback, you ideally don’t want them to see the field. And believe me, I understand a backup quarterback is valuable to this team, especially with Carson Wentz’s injury history. But Hurts just isn’t ready to be that guy yet, he’ll more than likely be the third string quarterback behind Nate Sudfeld.
So if the team spent their 53rd overall pick on Hurts to simply come in as a quarterback and compete for the third spot, this pick makes absolutely no sense. Especially when you factor in how robust the backup QB market was in free agency this offseason. Jameis Winston, Joe Flacco and Cam Newton were all better options as pure backups.
But I have to believe the Eagles aren’t this stupid. Or maybe they are and I’m just talking out of my ass here, who knows.
The only way I can find any justification in this pick is if the offensive coaching staff now plans to implement some sort of two quarterback offense. Similar to the Taysom Hill package in New Orleans, but with higher usage and more creativity. If that’s what’s going on here, well then of course they’re not going to tell us that. Why would they broadcast to the rest of the NFL that they plan to take the league by storm in 2020?
The organization’s attempt at feeding us this “Quarterback Factory” bullshit is a smoke screen to the rest of the NFL if a two quarterback offense if the plan for next year.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but ridiculous moves like this will lead to ridiculous speculation.
Several pundits from around the NFL with sources close to the Eagles believe this may be the case. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network even says that the team thinks he could play running back for them at some point.
He’s far from the only NFL analyst who feels this way either.
It truly is the only way they can justify using such a high pick on a quarterback when there are more pressing needs across the board, and when the market for backup quarterbacks was larger than it had been in years. Not to mention the Eagles have the third most cap space of any team in the NFL, so they could afford to sign one of these vets, especially now that the draft is over and most teams seem to be set with their training camp rosters.
The team also brought in several new coaches on the offensive side of the ball. Rich Scangarello, Marty Mornhinweg and Andrew Breiner being the most notable.
Mornhinweg has a lot of experience coaching and scheming up plays for dual threat quarterbacks. He was the offensive coordinator when the team had Michael Vick. During his time as the Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator, he coached Lamar Jackson in his rookie season, where he implemented multiple plays with both Flacco and Jackson on the field.
Listen, I don’t think a two quarterback offense works in the NFL. We’ve seen it attempted multiple times and it never seems to work out. All I’m saying is, in order to justify using a second round pick on this guy, he needs to contribute in year one.
Ideally, his contributions won’t come at the expense of another Wentz injury, but if this coaching staff can put their heads together and get creative with this guy, well then I guess I won’t hate the pick as much as I initially did.