Quarterbacks are coming. They will work out at the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday. If those college prospects weren’t scheduled to run through their on-field drills with receivers and running backs, the Eagles might have called in sick that day.
Maybe they still will, though running backs and receivers aren’t atop the menu of players they will likely take in the draft, either.
They certainly don’t need a quarterback, though they still need a quarterback coach, but how refreshing is that? Every year, it seems at least half the teams in the NFL are scrambling to find either a capable starter, a franchise-changer, or a 30-something backup.
Not the Eagles. They have their franchise star in Jalen Hurts, no matter what the national perception of him is.
They have two better than average backups, too, with Kenny Pickett and Tanner Mckee. Now, if the Eagles decide to trade one of them, it might behoove them to have a scout or somebody from the front office inside Lucas Oil Stadium around 1 p.m. when the on-field QB drills will begin.
For now, they are set.
With that in mind, here’s a look back at Hurts’ Scouting Combine performance.
The quarterback headed to Indianapolis in February of 2020 with most so-called experts saying he would be a third or fourth-round pick in the draft, despite a 38-4 record as a starter while at Alabama for three years and Oklahoma for one.
NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, however, called the rise of Hurts as he worked out.
“One of our colleagues has used the Dak Prescott comparison as somebody you might have something with,” said Jeremiah. “I think he could come out of this thing when all is said and done - people are talking about third or fourth round – but I don’t think he’ll get out of the second round because of what he can do as playmaker and you’re seeing it now. He can really spin the football. He has some things to clean up but there’s a lot to work with there.”
Hurts ran a 4.59 in the 40, had a 10.5 broad jump, and 39-inch vertical jump.
The Eagles liked what they saw, obviously, and took him in the second round. The rest is history, with Hurts becoming the first quarterback in Eagles history to start two Super Bowls, and he has been to the playoffs all four years he has been a starter. He has played some of his best football in his two Super Bowls, winning one in February.
“At the end of the day, he just knows how to win and whatever that takes of him,” said general manager Howie Roseman, days before the Eagles left for New Orleans and Super Bowl LIX. “Some games, he’s gotta pass for a lot of yards. Some games, it’s him passing and throwing touchdowns, and some games he leads the running game and has to run for a lot of yards."
