Greg Ward Offers Eagles a Real Emergency Option at QB
PHILADELPHIA - It was a hot topic around the NFL this week after the Denver Broncos were forced to play an NFL game with their emergency quarterback last weekend.
It went about as expected for the Broncos, who lost to New Orleans 31-3 with former Wake Forest QB turned practice squad receiver Kendall Hinton taking the majority of the snaps and finishing 1-of-9 for 13 yards and two interceptions.
The Broncos also used running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman at times in wildcat looks.
The worst-case manifested itself for the Broncos because backup QB Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19 and the team's other three signal-callers, starter Drew Lock, third-stringer Brett Rypien, and practice squad option Blake Bortles were sidelined after being deemed high-risk close contacts to Driskel for not wearing masks in meeting rooms.
In 2020, anything can happen and the situation in Denver was a jolt of reality for the rest of the league.
The Eagles were proactive in their contingency plans at the game's most important position early, re-signing the 41-year-old Josh McCown to the PS and telling him to stay home in Texas just in case he was needed.
That was blown up when the Houston Texans offered McCown a spot on their 53-man roster last month.
Still, if the Eagles were forced into a situation like Denver they would be better equipped to handle it than most teams around the league because their emergency QB is a former star at the position in college, ex-University of Houston playmaker Greg Ward.
"Of course I could do it," Ward said smiling via Zoom Thursday. "You have to have that confidence. I believe in myself. I have the confidence that I could do it if my name was called and I had to do that."
The issue hasn't been discussed with Ward but it's almost understood that would be the logical avenue for the Eagles if the emergency came and the glass needed to be broken.
“We’ve been doing a good job with COVID and staying out of the way with guys being infected,” said Ward. "I haven’t thought about it. I just kind of live in a moment and will just be ready whenever my name is called.”
Ward, who has wins over Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson on his QB resume, admits things would be different in the NFL than with the Cougars where he finished with 8,705 passing yards and 2,375 more on the ground.
“Maybe I would say all the crazy coverages that the NFL has,” Ward pondered when asked what would be most difficult. “It’s not just a traditional Cover-3 or Cover-4 or whatever. You know now guys like to disguise it differently. So I would just have to do a lot of film studying."
From 2015-2016 Ward and current Houston Texans star Deshaun Watson, then at Clemson, were the only two college QBs with 6,000-or-more passing yards and 1,500-or-more rushing yards.
If everyone in this league was forced to go to their emergency options at QB the Eagles would likely go from one of the worst teams in the NFL to one of the best overnight.
"My whole mindset would be to go out there and do my best and just try to get the win," Ward said. "Just like my mindset for every single game no matter what position I’m at. Just go out there and help the team win."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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