Eagles Can't Get Lost in QB Groupthink

The draft starts in Mobile.

That's the Senior Bowl's tagline and it's the truth with the week leading up to the anti-climatic All-Star game itself serving as a mini-NFL convention just as the league calendar for all but the two Super Bowl teams - the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals - starts to look forward.

If Jim Nagy's annual event wanted a sub-header to add, how about "The silly season starts in Mobile" as well.

General manager Howie Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni and owner Jeffrey Lurie's son, Julian Lurie, led the Eagles' contingent to the deep south this week as Philadelphia starts its preparation for a very important 2022 draft in which the Bords start the process with three first-round picks, currently Nos. 15, 16, and 19.

The conventional wisdom says that Jalen Hurts, who just underwent ankle surgery on Wednesday, did enough in the 2021 season to convince Roseman and Co. that any of the potential quarterback options in the 2022 draft would not be a significant upgrade, leaving any thoughts of change limited to big-name veterans who would be costly to acquire both financially and from a draft capital standpoint.

That might be the case, but the Eagles can't [and won't] let draft groupthink seep into their evaluations at the game's most important position.

Once upon a time back in 2017 even NFL decision-makers valued Mitchell Trubisky more than Deshaun Watson and thought Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs were crazy to give up a king's ransom to go up from 27 to No. 10 to select Patrick Mahomes, who some graded as a second-round pick early in the process due to some serious mechanical issues.

Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, was once a Day 3 prospect with small hands and now he's one of the best young quarterbacks in football preparing to play for a Super Bowl championship after finishing his college career as a national champion at LSU.

The moral of those stories is to do your own work and show the courage of your convictions.

Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett is the best of this year's QB lot according to most, but the class as a whole has been received in a lukewarm fashion.

.@Pitt_FB’s Kenny Pickett says the #Bucs and #Panthers are among the teams he’s met with at the @seniorbowl.@MoveTheSticks’ QB1 in the 2022 NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/Hz3DEFkzeN
— NFL Draft (@NFLDraft) February 2, 2022

Pickett was front and center at the Senior Bowl for the first practice on Tuesday after a college career in which he finished with more than 12,000 passing yards and 81 touchdown passes despite Austin Powers' biggest pet peeve and the crack that once haunted Burrow, "small hands."

In the spring, Pickett's hands were measured at 8 1/4 inches, smaller than any current NFL QB including Burrow, and the potential first-round pick decided not to let anyone else in on the official measurement just yet, leaning on a double-jointed argument distorting the whole unnecessary process.

“Kenny has himself in a great position in this draft process right now,” Nagy said. “He is going to crush this process. He has a really cool way about him. He kind of reminds me of Burrow. When I got to know Joe through this process, guys just gravitated to him. He’s a leader. It comes easy to him.”

Pickett noted he is currently working on stretching exercises to improve his hand mobility and he will wait until the NFL's scouting combine next month for an official measurement.

"I think that's like the No. 1 thing for quarterbacks in the draft process every year is hand size," Pickett said. "The good news is that I play in Pittsburgh. Anyone that's been to Pittsburgh knows it's not the nicest place to play in October, November. So I've had experience playing in tough weather and I didn't measure in this week.

"I just want to give the most measurement I can. I'm working on mobility things."

WATCH: Here are 3 players who stood out for the American team at Wednesday's Senior Bowl practice.

The film and the production say that Pickett is the most skilled QB option in this draft class with an advanced pocket presence and plus fundamentals when compared to most potential rookies.

From there when you add in the intangibles like competitiveness and toughness you certainly have a worthy top-32 selection with ESPN's lead draft analysts - Mel Kiper and Todd McShay - ranking Pickett at Nos. 16 and 20 overall respectively.

In other words right in the wheelhouse of when the Eagles are scheduled to be selected with all three of their first-round picks.

Paths devoid of nuance say the Eagles have to choose Hurts, a potential first-rounder like Pickett, or the veteran route like Russell Wilson or Watson for 2022 but how about a different door?

Three first-round picks give you the Sam Hinkie-trademarked optionality and because QB is obviously the most important position, implementing a layered approach might be the best path forward.

Who's to say Hurts can't return as the young, improving starter in 2022 with Pickett as the backup while spinning off Gardner Minshew for some extra Day 3 ammunition, something that would give the Eagles two bites at the apple when it comes to finding the long-term solution at the game's most important position.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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.

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