Sam Ehlinger, Feleipe Franks Add Intrigue to QB Draft Class

There is plenty of intrigue among the quarterback class that goes beyond the projected first-round passers in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Eagles figure to be in the thick of that intrigue and need to make a better decision than they did in 2019 when they spent a fifth-round pick on Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson, who was cut out of training camp in his rookie year.

Two candidates cut from the intrigue mold are Texas’ Sam Ehlinger and Arkansas Feleipe Franks.

Neither player was mentioned during Daniel Jeremiah’s conference call last week when the NFL draft expert listed Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, who was the MVP at the Senior Bowl, Stanford’s Davis Mills, and Florida’s Kyle Trask as his sixth, seventh, and eighth-ranked QBs behind the big five of Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, and Mac Jones.

Trask won the job from the 6-6, 234-pound Franks at the University of Florida when Franks suffered a season-ending ankle injury in 2019 that required surgery. Trask took over and took off, leading to Franks transferring to Arkansas for the 2020 season.

“With the injury, that was definitely one of the (most) challenging things in my life and one of the biggest blessings,” said Franks. “It gave me the opportunity to come to Arkansas, gave me the opportunity to become more mentally tough, to meet so many new people, new teammates.

“At the same time, it was a lot of adversity, but it was the biggest blessing in my life, to take the next step in my quarterback game. It was a good experience to be able to go through that.”

In his one season with the Razorbacks, he completed 68.5 percent of his throws in nine games, which is a school-record for best completion percentage. He had 2,107 yards, 17 touchdowns, and four interceptions. He’s limited in mobility, however, but perhaps athletic enough to be drafted on the third day.

Franks was a hard-throwing right-hander in high school, touching 94 miles per hour on the radar gun, and was drafted in the 31st round by the Boston Red Sox in the 2019 draft.

At the Senior Bowl, he completed nine of 16 throws for 122 yards and one touchdown.

As for Ehlinger, he attended the same Westlake High School in Texas, the same program that produced Nick Foles and Drew Brees.

Ehlinger put together one of the best high school seasons by any quarterback in the state’s history, completing 241 of 391 passes for 3,833 yards, 50 touchdowns, and just five interceptions as a junior. He also ran the ball for 1,360 yards and 20 touchdowns on 254 carries that season. The numbers helped him win the 2015 Texas State Player of the Year.

Injuries, however, limited him to five games as a high school senior.

Ehlinger, who is 6-1, 222 pounds, gets dinged for lacking velocity on his throws and accuracy on intermediate and deep throws but gets high marks for his leadership.

“What he has to deal with as a person and the brand of the university he carries (makes him) an amazing person, amazing leader,” said Texas receiver Brennan Eagles. “He comes with the same energy every day. He’ll say something when nobody wants to say something.

"What I mean by that is in practice, and something’s not going right, nobody wants to speak up, he’s going to be that person that says, hey, we need to get this going. … He’s that guy who’s going to be vocal and speak when nobody wants to.”

Added offensive tackle Sam Cosmi: “The way you guys see him is how he carries himself - is how he carries himself everywhere. So that's how Sam is. He's a very mature guy. He can, you know, crack jokes here and there which I love. But the thing about Sam is just like, he's one

of the most hardworking guys I know. … his leadership skills are just unbelievable.”

Ehlinger did not impress much at the Senior Bowl, however, completing 4 of 10 throws for 42 yards and a touchdown.

He and Franks are considered third-day draft picks or possibly undrafted free agents and just two members of an intriguing crop of quarterbacks.

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.