Yes, Carson Wentz is still here — but that isn’t stopping mock drafts from predicting the Eagles will soon be drafting their next franchise quarterback.
In Pro Football Focus’ latest mock draft, the Eagles move up from No. 6 to No. 3 to take Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
The reasoning:
With Carson Wentz likely on his way out of Philadelphia, the Eagles need to get aggressive at upgrading at the quarterback position in April's draft. Rookie Jalen Hurts showed flashes of competence as the team’s starter, but he still finished the last four weeks of the season as one of the lowest-graded quarterbacks. Fields has his own fair share of concerns as a prospect, but he’s still the No. 3 overall player on PFF’s board and the first-ranked college quarterback in terms of PFF passing grade over the past two seasons (2019-20).
Fields, 6-foot-3, 228 pounds, finished his two-years at Ohio State with 63 touchdowns, nine interceptions and 5,373 passing yards. He also totaled 15 rushing touchdowns.
The price to move up for Fields isn’t mentioned in the mock draft, but according to the NFL Draft Value chart the difference between No. 6 and No. 3 overall is 600 points. The Eagles’ second-round pick, No. 37 overall, is worth 530 points, which is a little short, but would likely get the job done if the Eagles did want to move up.
The question is whether they should — and if Jalen Hurts should be given a year to try to win the job.
First, there is no way the team should draft a quarterback at No. 6 (or No. 3) and keep Hurts. After years of backup-quarterback drama, taking a quarterback with their first-round pick and then having that player compete with Hurts would be a disaster for everyone involved. Whoever the Eagles pick at quarterback need to be made the clear-cut starter and given an actual chance to succeed, not forced to go through a fake-competition for the job and have to deal with the drama that would come with it.
Whether Hurts earned the right to be the starter next year is debatable, but he did impress as a rookie. Hurts has almost all of the qualities you would want in a quarterback to build your team around — he has a strong arm, he is accurate, he is a threat to run and he has leadership qualities. He didn’t put them all together for four-straight games last year, but considering it was his first NFL action ever, he displayed enough to definitely be intrigued by what he could be with a full offseason to prepare.
What the Eagles do remains unclear, but as the 2021 NFL Draft creeps closer, one thing does seem clear — they are going to seriously consider all their options at quarterback.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!