When Howie Roseman drafted Jalen Hurts he called the Eagles a ‘Quarterback Factory.’ Who knew?

PHOENIX — Like “Gold Standard,” Dream Team,” and “New Norm,” this one was an instant classic, and Howie Roseman knew it.

On the second night of the 2020 draft, Roseman stunned the football world, not to mention his franchise quarterback, when he used a second-round pick on Jalen Hurts. It made no sense.

In 2019, the Eagles had signed Carson Wentz to a long-term extension for $128 million through the 2024 season, a year longer than Hurts’ initial contract would be. They had desperate needs at linebacker, defensive back, and running back, and there were plenty of blue-chippers left on the board. Further, many draftniks projected Hurts as a third-round talent, if not worse; a long-term project and perhaps a career backup.

Roseman knew the pick was controversial. That’s why he took the unusual step of leaving his draft board to hold an impromptu virtual press conference (this was during the COVID-19 draft). He justified the selection by saying that the Eagles considered Hurts to be better than most draft analysts. He said the Eagles figured that, even though they expected Hurts to mature into a fine NFL passer, he immediately could be used for gadget plays, like Saints hybrid Taysom Hill. Then, Roseman said this:

“We are quarterback developers. We want to be a quarterback factory.”

What in the hell is a Quarterback Factory?

He doubled down:

“We have the right people in place to do that. No team in the National Football League has benefited more from developing quarterbacks than the Philadelphia Eagles.”

» READ MORE: Howie Roseman finally rips Carson Wentz as Eagles prepare for the Super Bowl

The hubris was breathtaking.

As it turned out, though, the Eagles did, in fact, develop Hurts into an elite quarterback. It didn’t happen the way they planned — Hurts wasn’t ever supposed to be a starter, and the coaching staff changed — but it happened, nonetheless.

Monday night, with the Eagles at Super Bowl LVII and with Hurts a finalist for league MVP, Roseman could have taken a victory lap. When I asked him if he felt validation for the most controversial pick of his career, he replied:

“I don’t think there’s any validation.”

I dunno. I’ve known Howie for 23 years. He sounded pretty validated.

It was an incredible, unsupportable statement, and it set the Twitter meme world on fire. Within 24 hours, the best of the trolls had done their work. Roseman was depicted as Willie Wonka, the literary character of Chocolate Factory fame.

» READ MORE: ‘Alligator wrapped in armadillo skin’: Howie Roseman’s passion has the Eagles’ resilient GM back in the Super Bowl

Stick-figure savant Jimmy Kempski was moved to create his masterpiece: An animated factory scene that depicted the fates of recent Eagles quarterbacks up to the Wentz-Hurts-Nate Sudfeld trio of 2020.

The statement caused outrage because the statement was outrageous.

The Eagles had sent a quarterback to the Pro Bowl just three times in the 10 seasons since Donovan McNabb went to his sixth in 2009. This, despite committing to the position almost $300 million in contracts, two first-round picks (one recouped), a second-round pick, plus other assets. For what?

Michael Vick? Cooked. Nick Foles? A backup. Sam Bradford? Meh. Carson Wentz? Always injured, and already declining by 2020. That’s why Hurts got drafted in the first place.

When Roseman coined the phrase “quarterback factory” he was counting on then-coach Doug Pederson and his staff to continue to develop Wentz, who was entering his crucial fourth season. Wentz regressed. Hurts replaced him in Game 12, and was unimpressive. Pederson and most of his staff — and all of his quarterback whisperers — were fired nine months later. Clearly, they did not have the right people in place.

Pederson’s failure to finish the Carson Wentz Project was not unique. Lurie has hired only quarterbacks coaches as head coaches since 1999, but none has won a title with a starter.

Andy Reid developed McNabb, but Kevin Kolb, a second-round pick in 2007, flopped. Reid and Chip Kelly did little with Vick, and less with Foles. Kelly and Bradford proved an uninspired tandem. After two good years, Pederson and Wentz peaked. Frankly, Nick Sirianni and his staff didn’t get much out of Hurts in 2021.

» READ MORE: Jeffrey Lurie says he knew Jalen Hurts would be a superstar in the Super Bowl

Quarterback factory?

More like quarterback graveyard.

The fallout was hilarious.

But Roseman’s getting the last laugh.

In the last three decades Jeffrey Lurie, Roseman, their coaches, and their players have given us plenty of catchphrases that have followed them for years. They have a list of greatest hits that would make Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin jealous. For instance:

» READ MORE: The 10 best and worst Eagles Super Bowl moments: From the Philly Special to a ‘pick sick’

And, now:

Quarterback factory?

On Monday, as Hurts prepared to start his first Super Bowl, Roseman recalled that frantic April night and that fateful, foolish phrase.

“We were in the middle of a draft. We were still trying to pick,” Roseman said. “Part of it was, I was trying to get out of the moment. Trying to get back and look at our draft board and figure out who we were taking in the third round.”

He knew he had to do some damage control: “For us, it was an unusual moment to do a press conference.”

Except he didn’t control the damage. He did more damage.

Now, almost three years later, he revisited what he meant to convey on that crazy Friday night.

“It made sense for me. You’re talking about the most important position in sports,” Roseman said. “When we were trying to explain it, it was almost a moment of frustration. Like, ‘This is what we do. We want to have good quarterbacks.’”

By Sunday night, the Quarterback Factory might have produced the best quarterback in franchise history.