Before the hysteria surrounding the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles were all set to proceed with Nate Sudfeld as the backup quarterback to franchise signal-caller, Carson Wentz.
Sudfeld re-signed with the Eagles on a one-year deal at the start of the free agency period and it was expected that the inexperienced backup would be the guy as the Birds passed up bigger name veterans on the open market.
The narrative shifted with Howie Roseman pulling the trigger on Hurts at No. 53 overall in the second round of the draft.
Roseman’s reasoning centered around Hurts having tremendous value and the Eagles not wanting to watch a playoff run end if Wentz were to somehow miss time with an injury.
During a recent zoom call with the media, Pederson eliminated any controversy about the backup quarterback job, letting the media know that it’s Sudfeld’s job as we currently stand per NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“I fully expect Nate to come in and be aggressive and do the things that he’s capable of doing and become the backup to Carson,” Pederson said Tuesday.
“Jalen is just learning and picking up our system, and he’s another one, another young player that we drafted who, there’s a lot to learn,” Pederson said. “So are we going to take it a little bit slower maybe with him until he grasps the offense? You might have to. What I like about it is always the unknown, and the unknown is how well a guy I think can progress. And then once we get him on the grass, put him through drills, put him through practices, then we see exactly what these guys are all about. Right now, Jalen is doing an outstanding job of picking up the offense, spitting it back to [quarterbacks coach] Press [Taylor], and understanding what we are trying to get done.”
Things happen and narratives change, but it sounds like Pederson is banking on Wentz playing extremely well, and Hurts being relegated to gadget mode as he works to improve as a rookie.
Sudfeld has only completed 21 of 25 career passes, but his advantage over Hurts comes via hours spent in the Eagles system and hours spent around Carson Wentz.
It’ll definitely be interesting to see how this scenario plays out.
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