The Eagles Draft…Jalen Hurts?

After the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft on Thursday, we thought we had seen a few surprises. The Raiders and Falcons reached for cornerbacks that many expected to be available in the second round. CeeDee Lamb fell all the way to the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles took Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson at No. 21. We were not prepared for what the Eagles were about to drop on us in the second round. We weren’t ready for

“With the 53rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles draft Jalen Hurts, quarterback, Oklahoma.”

Jalen Hurts. Quarterback. The Eagles. The Eagles drafted a quarterback. In the second round.

What.

Instead of drafting another offensive weapon for Carson Wentz (more on that later) or some help for a defense that struggled at times last season and has its fair share of holes, the Eagles drafted a quarterback. A backup quarterback. In the second round.

Why draft Jalen Hurts?

Many NFL reporters get an early word on who teams are drafting on draft night, and some tweet them out. Schefter typically hasn’t in recent years because his network airs the draft, but he did let everyone know the Eagles were about to drop a doozy on us.

The immediate thinking (after “what?”) was that the Eagles envision using Jalen Hurts similar to how the New Orleans Saints use Taysom Hill. General manager Howie Roseman and head coach Doug Pederson were asked about this specifically in their quickie press conference shortly after the Hurts pick:

Q. Howie and Doug, because we talked a lot about the evolution of offensive football and how the game is changing, Saints QB Taysom Hill in New Orleans, even Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh talked about putting two quarterbacks on the field at one time. Do you see a unique skill set that would let you open up the offense in any way? (John McMullen)

DOUG PEDERSON: With Jalen Hurts, he has a unique skill set. You see what Taysom Hill has done in New Orleans and now he and [Saints QB] Drew Brees have a connection there and a bond there, and you even look at — when [Joe] Flacco and [Ravens QB] Lamar [Jackson] in Baltimore for the short period of time, how they gelled together. It’s just something we’re going to explore. I want to make a point here first and foremost that Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback, and he was drafted as a quarterback and he’s a quarterback first, but he has a unique skill set that he’s a great runner. Obviously, he throws well on the run. He has a unique set of skills that we’re going to take a look at as we keep developing this off-season and this advancement, so to speak, as we get ready for training camp.

As an athletic quarterback with a similar build, Hurts certainly fits that mold. Here is his spider graph from Mock Draftable:

In a vacuum, the Hurts pick is a forward-thinking move by an organization that likes to be creative. It makes sense, especially given their history of investing in the backup quarterback position. The problem is the allocation of resources. If the Eagles added a Hurts-like player in free agency or the fourth round, no one would bat an eye. But in the second round when your roster has obvious short and long term needs on both sides of the ball? That is where the move becomes a head-scratcher.

What does mean for Carson Wentz?

If you are Carson Wentz, there’s a good chance you would have preferred the Eagles to use this pick on another offensive weapon. They added wide receiver Jalen Reagor in the first round, but they could still use another one or two (or seven?) young wideouts. What this does not mean, however, is that Jalen Hurts was drafted to replace Wentz.

For one, he is one of the best young (or young-ish at this point) quarterbacks in the NFL and has proven his worth. In 2017, he was the likely league MVP before a freak torn ACL while diving into the end zone. Last season, he took a wide receiver corps of Robert Davis, Deontay Burnett, and Greg Ward and carried them into the playoffs. He even had third-string tight end Joshua Perkins playing meaningful snaps and catching touchdown passes.

Another reason is his contract. The Eagles just extended Wentz and made him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. From Over the Cap:

In the opening of his impromptu press conference, Howie Roseman reiterated the team’s belief in Wentz and somewhat explained the pick:

We were very fortunate to get a young, Pro-Bowl quarterback in Carson Wentz. Our goal is to surround him with as many good people and good players as we possibly can. So for us, in this pick, when we sat and talked about it as a smaller group and looked at where we were on the board, and what was the thing that we believed in the most and what were the kind of people we believed in the most, [QB] Jalen [Hurts] stood out in all those regards. We think he is an incredible teammate. He has a lot to learn here, obviously.

…We have shown how we feel about Carson by our actions. We showed it by the amount of picks we put into him, and we showed it by the contract extension, and we believe this is a guy to lead us to our next Super Bowl championship. For better or worse, we are quarterback developers. We want to be a quarterback factory. We have the right people in place to do that. No team in the National Football League has benefitted more from developing quarterbacks than the Philadelphia Eagles.

He also added that he gave Wentz a heads up about the pick so that their franchise quarterback wouldn’t be blindsided if Hurts did end up being the pick:

Earlier today, I spoke to Carson about the options at this pick, and one of them was Jalen, so he had a heads up ahead of time.

Where Roseman and Co. struggled, however, was in completely explaining their vision when answering some of the questions from reporters. This was the last question before they wrapped things up, from The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia:

Q. Starting with those guys, you kind of look at the upside and what they can bring over the course of their rookie contract. I think a question with Jalen Hurts is sort of the what is the best-case scenario with him over the next four years given that you do have Carson and you just paid him and he’s obviously your starting quarterback? (Sheil Kapadia)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think when we look at the upside that this player has and the players he can learn from in that room with Nate and Carson this year and the coaching staff that we have, we think he’s more valuable than the pick we took him at. And we think where the league is going, when he gets experience and coaching, he’s going to be a valuable player, and for us that’s our job is to acquire as many assets as we can and utilize them and also utilize them to get more value. So that’s really what the draft is about. It’s about value, it’s about acquiring players that we think have high value, and really when you look at the quarterback position, there’s nothing that has more value.

But that could just be the team playing things close to the vest more than anything else. They aren’t going to come out and flat out say, “we took Jalen Hurts to be a backup quarterback, but we also envision him as a running back, tight end, wide receiver, and gadget player that we can utilize.” That kind of transparency has not been their M.O.

The selection of a backup quarterback this high in the draft is definitely not above criticism. But the early outrage from fans and reporters is a little premature. Could this pick have been used on a wide receiver like Denzel Mims or Van Jefferson? Sure. Would a linebacker like Logan Wilson or safety like Jeremy Chinn have filled a need? Absolutely.

But the thinking here is that Jalen Hurts isn’t just a backup quarterback in Philadephia. In his first season, he is going to see the field and touch the ball. This quote from passing game coordinator Press Taylor last summer could shed some insight into what Philly is thinking…