Rookie quarterback Clayton Thorson didn’t look ready for the NFL. The Eagles have to learn if he’s worth keeping. | Mike Sielski
The rookie from Northwestern had a horrible game for the Eagles, who could have used some reassurance from their backup quarterbacks after Nate Sudfeld's injury.
Clayton Thorson started 53 games at quarterback for the Northwestern University Wildcats, and they won 36 of them. No quarterback at the school has thrown for more yards or touchdowns or completed more passes. Last season, he led Northwestern to the Big Ten West Division championship and a victory over Utah in the Holiday Bowl.
He had spoken with reporters after games dozens of times in his football career before he spoke to them again Thursday night, after his first NFL game, the Eagles’ 27-10 preseason loss to the Titans. He did not appear nervous or rattled. It was the first time in several hours.
“I was excited,” Thorson said. “I felt like I was putting my eyes in the right place, just missing the throws. I’ve just got to set my feet and make the throws. But it’s nice to get out there and get my feet wet, and I’m looking forward to next week already.”
Thorson’s feet would be a frequent theme over the four to five minutes he spent talking after the game. He referenced them five times, always in the same two ways: He wanted to get them wet, and he needed to get them set. He had done the former now, and if he just did the latter, he seemed to be saying, he would be fine. It was certainly an optimistic view of his performance Thursday.
If – once Nate Sudfeld broke a fall late in the second quarter and, in doing so, broke his left wrist – the Eagles were looking for some reassurance that Thorson might be a viable backup to Carson Wentz, the rookie failed to meet even that modest threshold of competency.
It wasn’t just that he attempted nine passes and completed just two of them, that one of those passes was intercepted, that his two completions gained a total of just 7 yards, and that his passer rating was 0.0. It was the manner in which Thorson went about compiling those un-gaudy stats.
On one play, he rolled to his right and had running back Donnell Pumphrey open in the flat, an easy connection, except Thorson short-hopped the throw, as if he were spiking the football to celebrate a touchdown.
Later, on the interception, he sailed a throw 10 yards over the head of wide receiver Braxton Miller, who, as a former Big Ten quarterback himself, at Ohio State, could have been forgiven for wondering why the Eagles hadn’t given him a shot to earn a spot behind Wentz and Sudfeld.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have made those throws,” said Thorson, whom the Eagles picked in the fifth round of this year’s draft. “Nobody wants to go out there and throw an interception and throw a ball over a guy’s head. I’ve made all those throws about a million times. Just got to go out there and set my feet and make the throws. I was definitely excited to get out there and play, but at the end of the day it’s football. Got to have that that next-play mindset, next game, next practice.”
Look, it’s tempting to make too much of both Thorson’s struggles and the Eagles’ backup-quarterback situation. It’s easy to panic when there likely won’t be a reason to panic.
Cody Kessler didn’t look much better Thursday than Thorson did, but he has 17 games of NFL experience. He’s an acceptable stopgap. Besides, after his surgery Friday morning, Sudfeld should return to the lineup in six weeks. Per that timetable, he would be back for the Eagles’ third regular-season game, on Sept. 22 against the Lions.
There’s no reason to freak out over the prospect of Wentz’s having to avoid injury for two games before his primary backup is available again, especially since, in light of Sudfeld’s broken wrist, Wentz might not play more than a series or two in either of the Eagles’ next two preseason games.
That said, at best, head coach Doug Pederson, offensive coordinator Mike Groh, and quarterbacks coach Press Taylor have some serious work ahead of them with Thorson, who has not been particularly impressive during camp, either.
At worst, Thorson might prove that he’s not cut out for the NFL at all. Hoarding quarterbacks – drafting them in the later rounds, signing free agents – has been part of the Eagles’ player-personnel strategy for a while, and it’s smart. Quarterbacks are valuable. You might hit on one. You might develop one and trade him. You might find one who, in a pinch, can win you a Super Bowl.
What you don’t want to do is waste a pick. Thorson is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, and his arm is strong. But considering his career completion percentage at Northwestern was just 58.4, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that he was spraying passes all over Lincoln Financial Field.
“First time out – I’ve been there as a young quarterback, nervous and excited and wanting to do well,” Pederson said. “You look at some of the balls he threw a little bit high and a little erratic. It’s just nerves and calming down and playing in these games. He’ll get better.”
That’s the good news. He can hardly be worse.