Could Eagles draft or trade for yet another QB? ‘I would absolutely not take it off the table,’ says Joe Banner

Former Eagles president Joe Banner is doing a weekly Q&A with Inquirer pro football writer Paul Domowitch. This week, the two discuss the coaching staff Nick Sirianni is putting together, the chances of the Eagles drafting or trading for another quarterback, Duce Staley’s departure and Deshaun Watson’s trade demand:

Domo: Nick Sirianni is in the process of putting together his coaching staff. You mentioned last week the importance of a young first-time coach like Sirianni needing to balance his staff with some experienced people. He did keep offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and hired 54-year-old Tracy Rocker to coach his defensive line. But many of his key hires are young and don’t have a lot of experience as primary position coaches. His 35-year-old offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen, was a quality control coach five years ago. His 37-year-old defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, has been a No. 1 position coach (defensive backs) since only 2018. Brian Johnson, his 33-year-old quarterbacks coach, has no NFL experience. Your thoughts?

JB: In a perfect world, I think it would be ideal to have at least one person on his staff with some head-coaching experience. Because Nick doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. I don’t mean that as any kind of criticism. No first-time head coach fully understands the breadth of non-football things they need to do. The ability to have somebody who can either do some of those things for you or can at least give you good advice and minimize the amount of time it takes up, is valuable.

Now, I don’t think he needs that to be successful. I just think it would be a wise thing to do initially and make for an easier transition for him. I don’t think they’re going to measure him by how many games he wins or loses in 2021. They’re going to be looking at how his relationship with his players develops, his willingness to take risks, his philosophy about building a team and what his priorities are and how he handles the quarterback situation. They’ll learn a lot from him this year. But I would’ve encouraged him to bring in some veteran support, maybe an assistant head coach, to mix in with some of these younger guys. Though Stoutland will help in that respect.

Domo: It would appear he was given a much freer hand in assembling his staff than they gave Doug Pederson.

JB: I wouldn’t say freer. Hopefully, he’s been given a free hand. Now, they should be collaborating. He should be open to any ideas they have. But it should’ve been made completely clear to him that, in the end, whatever he decides, they are going to support. If they didn’t think he could pick a capable staff, they shouldn’t have hired him as the head coach. So I suspect they had an understanding about that before they even hired him.

I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve played any role of any consequence other than being someone a coach could throw ideas off of, or someone who threw a couple of ideas into the bin for the coach. And that’s the way it should be with respect to a coaching staff.

Domo: So why did Jeff and Howie take that away from Doug? Did they just lose trust in his decision-making?

JB: I think it was a reflection of the confidence they had or didn’t have in him in some elements of what he was doing. I can tell you this from working with Howie and Jeff. They understand how important hiring the right people is, and then having a head coach who can effectively manage them. I don’t think they would have interjected themselves into it if there wasn’t a loss of trust or faith in Doug’s ability to do that as well as it needed to be done.

Domo: Brian Johnson, the new quarterbacks coach Sirianni hired, has connections to Jalen Hurts. One of Johnsob’s high school coaches was Jalen Hurts’ dad. He’s known Jalen since he was 4 years old. And Johnson tried to recruit Hurts out of high school when he was an assistant at Mississippi State. Just a coincidence that will have no impact on the quarterback situation, or do you think the Eagles aren’t really interested in “fixing” Carson Wentz?

JB: Well, it certainly looks like, if Hurts is going to be their guy, they’re prepared for that. If there’s one thing to take out of this it’s that, at a minimum, they’re open to trading Wentz. This expected flow of top quarterbacks that’s going to be coming into the marketplace during the offseason is not good for the Eagles in terms of trying to maximizing Carson’s value. I mean, if I’m running the Eagles and somebody called me up right now and said they’re interested in either (Matthew) Stafford or Wentz and they need to know what I’m looking for price-wise, so they can figure out what direction they want to head, as a negotiator in Howie’s shoes, that’s not really a position you want to be in.

You’d rather be calling up the team and saying, “Listen, I got four teams interested in Wentz and I’m going to make a deal in the next couple of weeks. So you need to give me your best offer.” That way, the onus is on the other team rather than you to push things forward and you don’t start losing options.

The bottom line is they’re going to be hard-pressed to get something huge for Carson, because of the contract teams will be taking on and the way he played last year.

Domo: So you think it’s more likely than not that they will attempt to trade him?

JB: I’m not prepared to say he’s going to get traded. But it reinforces my sense that those people that are dismissing it, either because of his previous performance or because of his contract, are making a mistake. It’s no sure thing by any stretch. But it’s a real possibility that he gets moved.

Domo: If they’re going to try and trade him, don’t they need to make that decision fairly quickly, given all of the other quarterbacks who are going to be on the market?

JB: I think the process of finding out who might be interested definitely will be moved up. They may already be having some very loose conversations with teams right now.

There aren’t going to be that many teams who are going to be open to acquiring big-contract quarterbacks, especially with the cap situation this year. The sooner they do it, the better chance they have of maximizing the number of teams that are actually in it.

Domo: Let’s add another twist to the Eagles’ quarterback situation. They have the sixth overall pick in the draft. Could you see them spending it on a quarterback?

JB: I’m not predicting they will and I don’t think they will. But I would absolutely not take it off the table. Listen, here’s what I know for sure. They correctly believe that by a very wide margin, the single most important thing you have to have is a difference-making quarterback.

They may think that they’re not sure about Carson and have some hope about Hurts, but they don’t know. If they’re sitting there at No. 6 or they can get to a spot where they have a quarterback that they’re evaluating and saying we think this guy is going to be a star quarterback, I absolutely think they would look at that seriously.

By the way, I also think that could be true about some of these guys that are being talked about as potentially being traded. I don’t think they will do anything. But they’re going to do whatever they think they need to to have themselves a top-5 or top-7 quarterback in the NFL. And if they don’t think they have that on their roster, I’m telling you that will still be on their to-do list.

Domo: Sirianni worked with several of the people he’s hired. But he doesn’t seem to have any previous connection to Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator at the University of Florida last year.

JB: I’d love to know whether he was a Nick idea or a front-office idea. I mean, it’s fine if it’s the front-office, because as I’ve said, they should be part of those discussions and throwing out suggestions, as long as the head coach has the final say.

But Howie’s a graduate of the University of Florida. So I’d be curious for no purposes other than being curious, as to who put his name into the mix.

Domo: After 17 years with the Eagles – 7 as a player and 10 as an assistant coach – Duce Staley left the organization and took a job with the Detroit Lions as their assistant head coach and running backs coach. Did Duce need a change of scenery?

JB: No doubt. The Eagles made it clear that they liked having him. But the role that he was in was pretty much the role they saw for him long-term. If he has aspirations that are bigger than that, and I assume he does, he needed to get out and get a chance somewhere where he would have an opportunity to either do more, or at least establish himself a little bit more and hopefully put himself in position for those kind of jobs that he would’ve liked to have had with the Eagles.

Those of us that really like Duce should be sad that he’s leaving the Eagles, but happy for him that this is going to hopefully put him in position to go for his bigger goals.

Domo: What’s your take on Deshaun Watson’s desire to get out of Houston?

JB: That whole situation, there’s something more going on there than just what we’re hearing. There certainly are people that don’t like (Texans executive vice-president of football operations Jack) Easterby. But there also are some very impressive people in the league that love him and think he’s fantastic and give him credit for some of the success in New England when he was there.

I mean, (Deshaun) is a guy who signed a 4-year, $156 million contract extension four months ago and was literally crying at the press conference about how appreciative he was to the organization. So something else has infiltrated this and led to this.

The fact that he’s upset at the owner (Cal McNair), I can understand that. But we’ve had lots of players in this league who were upset with their owner but didn’t request trades. And if it’s true that he’s got a place like the Jets on his list of preferred teams, I’m not sure that’s going to solve his problem, at least in terms of history of success. And if it’s politics, it certainly doesn’t solve any political concerns he might have over their existing owner (Jets owner Woody Johnson was the Trump-appointed ambassador to the UK).

I think there’s a good chance some day that we find out there’s more going on than we know of at the moment.

Domo: If Watson doesn’t back off his trade demand, will the Texans oblige him?

JB: I’ve been saying this for years now. The players have fully recognized something that they didn’t for a very long time. Which is the extent of their leverage. There’s absolutely nothing more valuable with respect to leverage than withholding services.

For years, you’d hear, oh, the player doesn’t have any leverage. He’s got two years left on his deal. What can he do? Well, we’re seeing what they can do. We saw it with Khalil Mack and (DeForest) Buckner and others that have been able to, in their prime, force themselves out of buildings.

The league has tried to do some things with regard to rules and creative penalties for holdouts and stuff like that, that might at least discourage this. But the upside is too great for any of those penalties to really matter in a situation where you’re truly committed to getting out of the building.

So, Deshaun’s the next guy in what’s been happening over the last 3-4 years. And I don’t think it’s going to stop any time soon. And I do think it’s going to result in quarterbacks getting moved or traded this offseason when people have been saying, oh, there’s no way they can move.

A couple of years ago, people were saying there’s no way Antonio Brown could move. This obviously would take it to another level. But I would be surprised if none of the big names that we’re talking about, including the Deshauns and the Wentzes and Goffs and Staffords and Rodgers, some of those guys are going to move. I don’t think they’ll all be moving. But it’s also not just going to be one of them. Some of those guys are going to have new addresses.

Houston is stuck. Watson is a fantastic player at a crucial position. He can’t be easily replaced. But if they trade him, nobody on that team or their agent ever again is going to think a contract means anything. All you’ve got to do is demand an out and you’ve got it.

On the other hand, bringing in a quarterback or any player of his caliber, but especially a quarterback who is the leader of your building, who doesn’t want to be there, is a disaster too. So they are really stuck in a bad place. This is a classic Catch-22. I don’t know what I’d do if I was in their shoes. First of all, I would’ve tried to avoid getting here. And if I did get here, I would do whatever I could to try and convince Deshaun that things are going to be different and try to address whatever his concerns are.

But I think it’s highly likely at this point that he does get traded.

Domo: You’re familiar with Watson’s contract and Wentz’s contract. Will Watson’s have a much smaller impact on the Texans’ salary cap if he’s traded than Wentz’s will have on the Eagles’ cap?

JB: Yeah. The way the contract is structured and the size of the up-front bonus means the cost to Houston to trade him is much less than the cost for the Eagles to trade Wentz. It’s also a better contract for the player. It includes a no-trade clause. But if we’re strictly talking about the cost left behind to the team, then Houston will be less damaged by trading Watson than the Eagles would be by trading Wentz.

Domo: You said a couple of weeks ago that Houston should have no trouble getting a minimum of 3 first-round picks, plus other players or picks if they trade Watson. Still believe that?

JB: Absolutely. If that doesn’t turn out to be the case, then Houston has done a horrendous job of maximizing his trade value. It’s complicated by the no-trade clause. I mean, how do you say I’m not going to play four years for you and I’m going to limit where you can trade me to? But the truth is he has the right to do that. The Texans mistakenly gave him that right. But they’ve made a lot of mistakes over the last few years, which is why they’re in this situation.

But listen, if I was running a team right now and didn’t have a quarterback, or had a quarterback but his upside was just to be good, and I called them and thought there was a chance to get a deal done, I would try to not get off the phone without completing a deal.

This is a generational opportunity. An unblemished, young, top-5 or top-7 quarterback in the NFL. Having an opportunity to trade for one of those just never, ever happens. And remember, no matter the number of first-round picks you give up, history has shown that teams miss on 50 percent of their first-round picks anyway. So, if you have four No. 1s, you’re probably only going to get two good players out of it. I mean there aren’t two players in this league I wouldn’t trade for a star quarterback like Watson.

Domo: Last question. The pandemic has forced the postponement of the scouting combine. Workouts will be limited to school Pro Days. All interviews with players will be virtual. Medical exams will be done all over the country. Do you think this will translate to more Draft Day mistakes?

JB: I don’t. I think we learned this year that a lot of things that some thought we couldn’t live without, like offseason programs, we actually lived fine without. The (game) tape should always drive your evaluation. If people focus on that, they may actually make less errors than if they’re obsessed with 40 times and vertical jumps.

But I want to break it down a little bit. If the teams can’t get the same access to interviews and medical information that they’ve had in the past, then I think the answer to your question is yes. It will increase the risk of error.

The actual workouts at the combine, though, there’s been a large group of people in the league for a long time now saying, you know what. I’m not sure how important this is. And even if it is important, I’m not sure we’re testing the right things.

People used to think a 40 time for a D-lineman was important. Then they realized it wasn’t, but the 10 time was really important if you’re looking for somebody who can get to the quarterback.

I’ve long felt that the combine created the risk for pointing you in the wrong direction. Now that will be gone. But if you can’t really interview these players and get to know them and research them and figure out how driven they are, how smart they are, that will be consequential.

And very few players come out without having had any medical issues. So it’s going to be critical that all teams are able to get that information. Because the last thing you want is to make a pick and have somebody come in and find out something you didn’t know.