Cody Kessler faces another tall order, competing to catch on with Eagles | Bob Ford

It is easy to pick out Cody Kessler among the four quarterbacks at Eagles training camp as they stand together in their magisterial red jerseys spinning footballs in their hands and generally acting like quarterbacks.

Not easy because Kessler stands out, but because he doesn’t; a trait that has defined a career road paved with doubt and lined with potential exit ramps.

Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld, and rookie draft pick Clayton Thorson range from 6-foot-4 to 6-6, which is what NFL teams are looking for almost exclusively in quarterbacks these days as they match body types to positions. Kessler is scuffling along at 6-1, with a right arm that is exceedingly accurate but has never been considered overpowering.

It should be mentioned, and Kessler’s proponents certainly would mention, that the best quarterback in the NFL last season, with a passer rating of 115.7 and a ridiculous 74.4 completion percentage, also stands 6-1 in his bare feet. No one is saying Cody Kessler is Drew Brees, but he isn’t disqualified from greatness just because of the distance from the ground to the top of his helmet.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned in this league is that everybody can have this great arm, or make these throws, or do these different things, but if you can’t run an offense or read a defense, it’s tough,” Kessler said after practice one day. “In game situations, my job is to compete and hopefully go out and prove it in preseason games. Time will tell.”

In every NFL training camp, there are quarterbacks like Kessler who accept their practice repetitions in coffee spoons while those farther up the depth chart take them in ladles. They look to the four exhibition games, when the more favored players will be protected from harm as much as possible, as their opportunities to catch lightning, or at least make the coaching staff (or that of some other team) say, “Hmm.”

Kessler has always been more impressive in games than while standing around waiting for the chance to get into them. He was a very good high school quarterback in Bakersfield, Calif., but it’s easy to get overlooked there. Recruited tepidly by USC, he took a redshirt year and then played behind Matt Barkley for another before getting his chance.

All he did in three seasons was set the Trojans’ record for completion percentage, and not just because he was a check-down master. Kessler threw for more than 10,000 yards and averaged 12.2 yards per reception, finishing with 88 touchdown passes and just 19 interceptions.

Each of his three starting seasons at USC was a marvel of quiet efficiency, and each ended with Kessler’s being selected All-Pac-12 honorable mention at his position, ranked behind such taller luminaries as Taylor Kelly, Brett Hundley, and Luke Falk. (Also, Marcus Mariota and Jared Goff.)

Kessler was drafted in the third round by Cleveland in 2016, slotted behind Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown, but when both suffered shoulder injuries, he became the starter for eight games as a rookie. The Browns didn’t win any of them, but Kessler had a passer rating of 90 or better in five of the starts and he hummed along, completing 65.6 percent of his passes. The run might have continued, but he suffered a concussion and both McCown and Griffin were ready to return.

He played in just three games, with no starts, for the Browns in 2017, then went to the Jaguars last season. When starter Blake Bortles was benched late in the year, Kessler got four starts and finished the year for Jacksonville having completed 64.9 percent of his passes.

After he was let go by the Jags, the Eagles brought him in during the spring. He’s got more experience and resume than just a typical “camp arm,” but Wentz is Wentz, Sudfeld is the heir apparent to the role of Nick Foles, and the team spent a fifth-round draft pick on Thorson. What exactly is Kessler’s path to making the team?

“I can only control what I can control, and that’s showing you can run the plays and be functionable, and make the throws when they are there,” Kessler said. “Then, when you get to the preseason games, and you’re playing a different team, and things aren’t scripted, are you still smooth? No matter how many plays or what reps I’m getting [in practice], I just want to show I can move the ball and then transition that over into a game situation.”

Smooth has never been Kessler’s problem, and there is a path for him here. To be kind, Thorson has been pretty spotty in camp, and Sudfeld hasn’t been much better. The Eagles might consider slipping Thorson onto the practice squad — it’s not like other teams will clamor to steal him at this point — and then keep three quarterbacks, in deference to the injury history of Wentz.

Maybe, although it is a long way to Aug. 31, when the active rosters are reduced to 53 players, and a lot can happen between now and then. Camp practices will tell their tale, as will the preseason games.

“You know you’re competing. Everyone is competing for a spot on the field,” Kessler said. “But you can’t let that be your only mindset. If you home in on just that, you can’t get better. When you get reps, you learn from them, and at the end of the day, it’s just showing you can run a team.”

Cody Kessler has done that all his career, usually better than the legion of lanky dudes who beat him to death in measurables. Every season remains a new challenge, however, to convince yet another team of that. This season, it is the Eagles. Once again, Kessler is standing out because he doesn’t. Sometimes that can work just as well.