How Jalen Hurts’ progress and the Saints’ futility impact the Eagles’ NFL draft strategy

The Eagles front office enters this college football weekend with significantly more information than it had going into the season.

Six weeks ago, it would have been hard to imagine the team’s personnel department spending more time watching Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson than star quarterback Bryce Young, but the way the early stretch of the regular season has unfolded makes that likely to be the case.

With the Eagles off this weekend, there will be more hopeful eyes glued to this Saturday’s slate of college football. Before the Eagles got off to a 6-0 start to the regular season, we went through the team’s biggest long-term positions of need.

Here are the three ways things have changed the most since then:

Quarterback was at the top of the rankings going into the season, simply because the Eagles were likely to do their due diligence evaluating the top-level prospects at the position this fall.

Jalen Hurts’ play has given the Eagles significant reasons to spend their time elsewhere.

Hurts has gone a long way toward earning the job indefinitely since he began this season with the onus on him to prove he should be the long-term starter. He has made marked improvements throwing the ball accurately and decisively from the pocket and on the run. His time to throw is noticeably better, illustrative of how much more comfortable he is reading defenses and making the right decisions.

If he continues playing at such a high level, he’ll be in for an intriguing offseason in which he’ll be eligible for a lucrative extension. He’s in the top10 of most advanced quarterback metrics and is still just 24 years old with the type of work ethic and leadership qualities that teams covet.

Hurts’ potential extension beckons to the operative question his play invites. The priority has shifted from finding a franchise quarterback to building a team around one on a rookie contract for one more season and then maintaining things when his salary goes from an advantage to a potential anchor.

If Hurts eventually commands a salary consistent with the quarterbacks he compares most favorably to statistically, the Eagles will need to surround him with talented players at premium positions on rookie deals to stay competitive. He has found success this season with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and a trio of difference-making receiving options in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert.

Defensively, prioritizing the high-value positions in the draft will also be key to preserving a talented group.

While Hurts has surged, the Saints have struggled.

New Orleans’ 2-5 start is good news for the Eagles, who own the Saints’ first-rounder this year. The pick is in the No. 4 spot, and New Orleans has uncertainty at quarterback as well as some significant injuries at other positions to contend with.

Even if the Saints right the ship — it is important to note they have the seventh-easiest remaining schedule according to tankathon.com — the extra pick will give the Eagles a serious chance at maintaining a talented roster around Hurts.

If the pick falls in the top five, they could get one of the elite pass rushers in this year’s class. Anderson, Georgia interior lineman Jalen Carter, and Clemson edge rusher Myles Murphy are all projected in that range and each would fit well into the Eagles’ scheme. Carter may be an interior rusher, but he can play from multiple alignments, something the Eagles could still use as they shift toward a multiple front that lines up with three defensive tackles at times.

Addressing a premium position early in the draft with the Saints’ pick also gives the Eagles the option to treat their own first-rounder as a luxury. Drafting a running back in the first round is typically prohibitive, but dropping an uber-athletic ballcarrier on a rookie contract into a contender is an understandable use of resources.

Getting a blue-chip player with someone else’s pick also makes trading out of the first round to stockpile Day 2 picks more palatable.

The Eagles’ draft needs will largely be determined by the players they give new contracts and the ones they let walk.

James Bradberry, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Miles Sanders, Javon Hargrave, T.J. Edwards, and Kyzir White all come to mind as players on expiring deals with significant roles on the team.

Bradberry got a raw deal last offseason when the New York Giants released him well after the free-agency period to sign their draft picks. He expressed a desire to hit the market in earnest this upcoming offseason and his play so far this year would suggest he’ll garner a top-market deal.

» READ MORE: Eagles corner James Bradberry’s big play impresses Darius Slay: ‘How you let that man out the building?’

Gardner-Johnson switched positions reportedly partly because of the paltry market for slot corners. The Eagles might have a better chance at extending his contract, although his potential at his new safety position is to be determined.

Which players return and which players need replacing will inform how the Eagles approach the first two days of the draft.

» READ MORE: C.J. Gardner-Johnson fits right in with an Eagles secondary that stifled the Cowboys