Eagles’ second-round draft pick of QB Jalen Hurts is a head-scratcher | Jeff McLane

The only ways the Eagles can likely maximize the controversial drafting of Jalen Hurts would be for Carson Wentz to either get injured or for their franchise quarterback to not be what the team paid him to be last year.

There is nothing wrong with selecting a quarterback like Hurts, whether you view him as a developmental project or a multipurpose weapon to play a handful of snaps every game. But to expend a second-round pick when you have just invested long-term in your 27-year-old quarterback reeks of hubris.

Howie Roseman was the brains behind the decision to draft Hurts, and his explanation when asked to give a best-case scenario for the next four years was can’t-see-the-forest-for-trees thinking at its worst.

“We think he’s more valuable than at the pick we took him at,” Roseman said during a teleconference. “And we think where the league is going, when he gets experience in coaching, this is going to be a valuable player. And that for us, that’s our job, to acquire as many assets as we can, and utilize them and also utilize them to get more value.”

But the only way Hurts can be valuable as a possible trade commodity is if Wentz misses significant time. While that is certainly possible considering his recent injury history, it is a cynical way to build a team.

The Eagles don’t have the Super Bowl-winning roster they had three years ago. They still have more talent than most, and thus have a chance to make the playoffs. But this offseason was, in part, about rebuilding and infusing the team with young players to build around Wentz.

First-round wide receiver Jalen Reagor offers that chance, and Hurts may well be good for Wentz in the quarterback room. But the Eagles’ needs elsewhere were greater, especially when you consider the amount of plays a cornerback, safety, linebacker, defensive/offensive lineman, or another receiver will play per game.

Hurts, best-case scenario, is on the field how many times a game? Ten? Do you really want to either keep Wentz on the sideline or split him wide that many times?

Yes, the NFL is evolving. Yes, the best teams will be one step ahead of the curve. Quarterbacks coach Press Taylor, when asked about the possible next big thing in the fall, said there could be a time when you have two passers on the field with either capable of throwing any time.

But most NFL teams don’t have one accurate thrower, let alone two. And Hurts, while he did have his moments at both Alabama and Oklahoma, doesn’t project as a starting NFL quarterback. He could develop. Apparently, the Eagles can convert any prospect into Lamar Jackson, per Roseman.

“For better or worse, we are quarterback developers,” Roseman said. “We want to be a quarterback factory. We have the right people in place to do that. No team in the NFL has benefited more from developing quarterbacks than the Eagles. When we make these decisions, we always go to our principles. Right or wrong, this is who we are.”

Andy Reid is gone, though. Doug Pederson has done a good job with Wentz and Nick Foles. Marty Mornhinweg, who was brought back this offseason as a senior assistant, has developed his share. And new coach Rich Scangerella and Taylor have had their hands on some of the league’s young promising quarterbacks.

But need we forget Chase Daniel or Clayton Thorson? And it’s not like Nate Sudfeld has proven anything.

Roseman is a long-time admirer of Ron Wolf, the former Packers GM who traded for Brett Favre and drafted Aaron Rodgers when Favre was still, well, Favre. Reid took his philosophy to try to draft at least one quarterback a year because they are the greatest commodities.

The Eagles were once able to turn A.J. Feeley into a second-round pick, but they originally drafted him only in the fifth round. The one time Reid expended a high draft pick on a quarterback, when he had a franchise starter, was in 2007, when he drafted Kevin Kolb to back up Donovan McNabb

McNabb was eight years into his career, though, and perhaps on the decline. It didn’t exactly go over well with him, but it made some sense at the time.

Roseman said that Wentz was made aware of the possibility that the Eagles could draft Hurts before the start of the second round. The GM said that the way the board fell made the Eagles shift their thinking about the No. 53 overall pick.

“We looked at where we were on the board and what was the thing that we believed in the most and what were the kind of people we believed in the most,” Roseman said. “Jalen stood out in all those regards. We think he’s an incredible teammate. He’s got a lot to learn here, obviously. We’ve shown how we feel about Carson by our actions.”

Wentz put on a brave face and tweeted out the following to Hurts after the pick: “Welcome to the best football city in America brotha!” But the addition of a young, dynamic talent will require him to be steadfast, even if struggles bring out the calls for every losing fanbase’s favorite player: the backup quarterback.

“We didn’t think this was much different than when we brought in Nick Foles, the amount of money we gave Nick Foles as a backup quarterback in 2017, and bringing him back in 2018,” Roseman said.

It’s different. It’s more like when Reid signed Michael Vick in 2009. The idea was that Vick would add another weapon to the offense, mostly in the Wildcat formation, maybe as something more. It didn’t pan out that way. Vick didn’t really show his value until Kolb got injured the following year.

But the league has changed some in 10 years. The Saints, Ravens, and other teams have been able to effectively incorporate a second quarterback into the offense, but only for so many plays and under different circumstances than the Eagles will have.

“He has a unique skill set,” Pederson said of Hurts. “You’ve seen what Taysom Hill has done in New Orleans, and now he and Drew Brees really have a connection and bond there. And you even look at [Joe] Flacco and Lamar [Jackson] in Baltimore for the short period of time gelled together. It’s just something we’re going to explore.”

While it sounded like something that the Eagles spent only a few days exploring, they had done their work on Hurts. Vice president of player personnel Andy Weild said he saw a game last season at Oklahoma, and then watched Hurts up close at the Senior Bowl and combine. Pederson said Taylor went to Oklahoma’s pro day and sat down with Hurts.

“Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback, and he was drafted as a quarterback,” Pederson said.

And maybe he’ll turn out to be one. But drafting Hurts in the second round, when Roseman had said just a day earlier that the pick was too valuable to part with in a trade up, was at the least dubious.

“There are other ways for us to add players,” Roseman said before the Eagles picked in the third round. “We have a lot more picks coming here.”

He had better hit on more than he has recently.