Eagles Take Jalen Hurts in Second Round

In what is considered a deep draft, Howie Roseman was hesitant to give up the No. 53 overall pick in the second round of the NFL Draft and the Eagles reaped the benefits of that on Friday by selecting Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts.

In what can only be described as a wow pick, Philadelphia went a forward-looking route and chose a dual-threat QB who thrives in an off-schedule offense.

Of course, the Eagles already have a franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz who was signed to a big-money extension before last season.

"He's got a lot to learn here obviously," general manager Howie Roseman said of Hurts. "You know we've shown how we feel about Carson by our actions, we showed and by the amount of picks we put into [the offense]. We showed by the contract extension and we believe this is a guy to lead us to our next world championship. But, for better or worse, we are quarterback developers."

The Eagles' backup situation was in flux even with Nate Sudfeld being brought back on a one-year contract.

Last season 40-year-old veteran Josh McCown came in late to caddie for Wentz and was forced into action during the divisional playoff loss but suffered a torn hamstring.

"No team in the National Football League has benefited more from developing quarterbacks than the Philadelphia Eagles and so when we make these kinds of decisions we always go to our principles and who we are and what we believe in," Roseman said.

Hurts presumably will come in as a player that can be used in certain packages but the organization obviously considers the backup QB position a very important one after Nick Foles salvaged the 2017-18 run which resulted in a Super Bowl LII championship.

“Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback and he was drafted as a quarterback first, but he has a unique skill set," coach Doug Pederson said. "He’s a great runner, he throws well on the run, he’s got a unique set of skills that we’re going to take a look at.”

Hurts started his college career at Alabama and finished at Oklahoma throwing at two of the most high-profile programs in the nation.

With the Sooners as a senior Hurts generally ran things from the pistol or the shotgun and there was a heavy emphasis on play-action and RPOs, two staples of the evolving Doug Pederson offense with the Eagles.

During his final season at Oklahoma, Hurts was the Heisman Trophy runner-up behind No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow of LSU after a season in which he completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 3,851 yards and 32 touchdowns vs. only eight interceptions.

He also added an amazing 1,298 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground as well. Hurts began his career at Alabama, where he started for his first two years before he was essentially beaten out by Tua Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick by Miami this season, in the 2018 College Football Playoff title game.

He had a reserve role the next season before he transferred to Oklahoma, where he followed in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

At 6-foot-1, 222 pounds Hurts has been projected as a Taysom Hill-change-up type who could create havoc with improvisation.