Justin Fields, Trey Lance Have Higher Ceilings than Jalen Hurts

That is the belief of NFL draft expert Daniel Jeremiah, who has five QBs ranked higher on his big board than he had the Eagles QB last year

Five quarterbacks have higher first-round grades in this year’s draft than Jalen Hurts did coming out of Oklahoma last year, based on the report card of NFL draft expert Daniel Jeremiah.

Jeremiah had Hurts ranked 50th on his big board of prospects at this time a year ago at this time, a board that includes players at all positions.

The Eagles plucked him at No. 53, and now seem ready to press forward this season with him as their starter after Jeffrey Lurie said recently he doesn’t want Hurts to have competition to be the starter and added he wants to onboard players who will help the second-year passer be successful.

Until Lurie spoiled the potential bluff, the Eagles made it known they would entertain the notion of taking a QB at No. 6. That would provide the competition that Lurie doesn’t want and wouldn’t do much to make Hurts succeed on the field.

So, presumably, the Eagles are moving on from QB in the first round, anyway.

General manager Howie Roseman and his staff would have to really love a quarterback after doing their evaluations and I mean really, really, really love a quarterback enough to try to sell the idea to the owner of taking him with the sixth pick.

“He (Roseman) has a tough call,” said Jeremiah. “I mean, Jalen showed some good things last year. I think you're hopeful and excited about what you can see from him going forward. I think it really depends on how you evaluate these quarterbacks.”

The quarterbacks who could be in play at pick No. 6 are Trey Lance, who Jeremiah has ranked 11th on his board, and Justin Fields (12).

Asked which QB has the highest ceiling, Hurts, Fields, or Lance, Jeremiah gave the nod to Fields.

“Just because of his speed and athleticism,” he said. “Trey Lance is a great runner and I think Trey Lance is probably going to run in the high 4.5s (at his pro day), which is incredible; and Jalen Hurts is a really good runner.

“But Justin Fields can be a home run hitter as a runner. Just his speed makes him a little different there.

“You look at all three of those guys have strong arms. I think that Fields has the ability to do as much as the other guys in terms of throwing the football.

“That to me would be kind of the tiebreaker in terms of where he can ultimately get, but I think it's close between him and Trey Lance in that discussion.”

Jeremiah said Lance reminds him of former NFL standout QB Steve McNair, though not as accurate – yet.

“Jalen Hurts I had as my 50th player and I thought he had a chance to be a quality starting quarterback at the NFL level, but these two kids to me have a much higher ceiling,” said Jeremiah.

Trevor Lawrence, ranked No. 1 by Jeremiah, and Zach Wilson (4) figure to be gone while Mac Jones, is Jeremiah’s 33rd best prospect overall, but probably not in play for the Eagles at No. 6.

“To me, if you have a significant gap between Jalen and what your options there at pick No. 6, might not be popular to go back to that well after all the quarterback drama, (but) you can make a case, well, let's just have a year of peace, let's take the best available player,” said the draft expert.

A fly in this ointment is that the 2022 quarterback class isn’t believed to be as deep or as talented as this group, so if Hurts stumbles, the Eagles could be left in a bad way.

Of course, if the right decisions are made and the right pieces brought in, Hurts could flourish.

“I would separate it by saying if Kyle Pitts is there, turn in the card,” said Jeremiah. “I don't know if it's 10 or 15 minutes, however long you get between picks this year, but don't spend all of it. Just send that card in and be done with it.

“I think when you have Jalen Hurts and you want to see what he can do and now you've got Kyle Pitts and you've got (Dallas) Goedert, you've got two guys that can really uncover and you're going to have favorable match-ups right in the middle of the field if you want them, those can be some easy completions.

“To me, that one would make the most sense for them, and I think it would make their offense the most dangerous. “

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.