History Shows Eagles Will Draft a QB This Spring, but Where and When?
The Eagles have drafted six quarterbacks since 2010, a span of 12 years, which, on average, is one quarterback taken every two years.
The last quarterback the Eagles drafted was Jalen Hurts two years ago. If history is any indication, it stands to reason they will make one a member of their 2022 haul.
There are six of them practicing right now in Mobile, Ala., leading up to Saturday’s Senior Bowl (2:30 p.m./NFL Network).
It sounds like Liberty’s Malik Willis stole the show on Wednesday, throwing darts through the rain and wind that swept through South Alabama.
Pitt’s Kenny Pickett, he of the tiny hands who many believe will be the first quarterback off the draft board this spring, is also there, and enjoyed a solid Thursday, by all accounts, after practice was moved indoors.
Kenny Pickett at the Senior Bowl
USA Today
The others: Cincinnati’s Demond Ritter and Nevada’s Carson Strong, both of whom are teammates of Pickett on the National team, and North Carolina’s Sam Howell and Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe, both of whom will be teammates with Willis on the American team.
Crissy Froyd who helps evaluate QBs for The Draft Network and is the publisher of SIBulldogs, said Strong had a meeting with the Eagles, among other teams, that went really well.
One of the top seven QBs, Mississippi’s Matt Corral, isn’t at the Senior Bowl.
Not all seven will go in the first round, so there are some that should be around in the second round should the Eagles choose to wait until their 51st overall selection to take one they might like.
Or they could wait until Day 3, where maybe Alabama A&M’s Aqeel Glass or Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman may be around, or some others that may land on the Eagles’ radar at the NFL Scouting Combine next month.
It’s not so much where they pick one, it’s probable they will pick one.
Here is their history dating back 12 years:
2010: Mike Kafka, fourth round, (122 overall)
2012: Nick Foles, third round, (88)
2013: Matt Barkley, fourth round, (98)
2016: Carson Wentz, first round, (2)
2019: Clayton Thorson, fifth round, (167)
2020: Jalen Hurts, second round, (53)
Twice in that run, they went back-to-back drafts taking a quarterback. So, should GM Howie Roseman decide to part with one of his three first-round picks for a first-rounder next year, they may look QB again, depending on how Hurts - and whoever they take this spring - do in 2022.
Frankly, it feels like a stretch to believe the Eagles will go the trade route and tried to bring in somebody like Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson.
It makes for good speculation stories from print media and great sports talk radio conversation, but the Eagles tried to staunch that sort of stuff when Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni met with reporters on Jan. 19.
Roseman committed to Hurts as the starter in 2022, though Brandon Graham kept the debate alive when he went on 94WIP sports radio recently and, in answering a question about Hurts, said, among other things, “It’s never 100% with Howie.”
Sirianni went deeper with his endorsement when he said, “There are no secrets here. Jalen knows he’s our guy.”
None of it has stopped the debate about trying to acquire Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson.
How would it look for the coach if the Eagles cut bait and run now?
How would players in the locker room, many of whom are staunch supporters of Hurts, such as left tackle Jordan Mailata and WR DeVonta Smith, react to that betrayal of a player they believe can get them where they want to go?
Appearing on 76ers guard Danny Green’s podcast, “Inside the Green Room” on SiriusXM, co-hist Harrison Sanford asked Smith: “I’m sure at some point during the season you heard the noise about Jalen Hurts and people were wondering if he can be the quarterback for the future. I’m sure you support him but give me the reason why you do.”
Smith’s answer went like this: “Because at the end of the day the guy, he knows what he does wrong, and he corrects it. I’ve been knowing him for, I mean, even before we met in college. When I was a recruit, he was the guy that got me to go to Alabama.
“So, I’ve kind of always known him, he’s always been that guy that’s never going to shy away from the mistakes. He makes the mistakes, he knows what he’s done wrong, he’s going to correct it. And it’s always a work in progress.
"You have those guys that make those mistakes and it’s hard for them to get over that. He’s somebody that’s going to get over it, he’s going to attack it, he knows what he has to do to not make that mistake again. So, I have all the confidence in him.”
Here’s the link to Smith’s answer:
https://twitter.com/GreenRoomInside/status/1488917068325875712?s=20&t=2jKqmq2MjJKc0RvLxmEIiA)
Sure, it’s a business and all that, but it just seems unlikely for a team that is building to risk fracturing an ever-younger foundation.
What seems more likely is the Eagles finding a quarterback along their draft path to develop right alongside Hurts.
Senior Bowl Quarterbacks
National Team
Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)
Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati)
Carson Strong (Nevada)
American Team
Sam Howell (North Carolina)
Malik Willis (Liberty)
Bailey Zappe (Western Kentucky)
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
