Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Sudfeld injury shouldn’t start QB concerns
In almost any sports town, the loss of a backup quarterback without a career regular-season start would be anything but breaking news.
Around here, it’s a crisis.
Everybody who said the Eagles would go as far as Nate Sudfeld took them this season, please take one step forward.
And yet the drama builds after Sudfeld fractured his nonthrowing wrist in the preseason opener Thursday.
When a quarterback in this era of correctness, it’s fashionable to politicize the event by putting Colin Kaepernick on a possible list of replacements, argue that he’s better than what’s out there and is being shut out because he started the national anthem protests or got Nike to kill the special edition Betsy Ross flag shoes for the July 4th holiday.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins looks at it another way. His favorite example is Mark Sanchez, who played the Eagles last year just weeks after Washington inked him.
“If you’re a team that’s looking for a quarterback, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be in everybody’s conversation,” Jenkins said of Kaepernick. “Preseason is an opportunity to evaluate players. Sometimes teams feel good with the quarterbacks they’ve got. They want to see them develop. But if you’re
somebody who’s looking for a quarterback, I don’t see why you wouldn’t consider it. They sign quarterbacks off the street every week. Didn’t Sanchez come in and start a game?
“I’m just saying, it’s been done.”
OK, it’s been done. But Sanchez didn’t exactly light it up after stepping in when Colt McCoy was injured against the Birds last year. The 53.7 quarterback rating says it all. Maybe the Redskins should have gone in another direction. The point is that when Alex Smith was hurt, the season was over for the Redskins. There was no Nick Foles on the roster.
With Eagles starter Carson Wentz healthy, and Sudfeld possibly available for the opener according to my quarterback source, who won games for the Eagles back in the day, the Birds currently have no plan to bring in a quarterback. Remember, that was a preseason game. Wentz and most of the Philly starters didn’t play. Veteran
backup Cody Kessler didn’t help himself with the film he put out. Rookie fifth-round draft pick Clayton Thorson had one of the worst games of his life.
If you want to question the football IQ of Doug Pederson, ask him if he’s still comfortable with his quarterbacks after looking at film of the 27-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans Thursday.
“Listen, there’s really not a lot to be said about the quarterback position,” Pederson said. “We’re very comfortable with the two we have. They’re going to get a lot of work these next several weeks obviously in practice. It’s like any other position on our football team. If we see the need to add depth and value, we will. But at this time, we’re confident with the guys we have moving forward.”
Translated, that basically means it’s going to all but impossible to recover if Wentz sustains a major injury this year because the Birds decided it was time to move on from Foles.
Deep down inside, the Eagles wanted it this way. They could have delayed the contract extension to Wentz and kept
Foles around but decided to move forward. The last time we looked, they’re still moving in the right direction although a slew of training camp injuries is something to monitor — particularly the issues of Pro Bowl right offensive tackle Lane Johnson (knee) and tight end Dallas Goedert (hamstring), who had a solid preseason game. Losing either of those talents for extended time would be tougher to overcome than a lengthy injury to Sudfeld.
Sudfeld vowed to do everything he could to get back to work ASAP. He has screws and a plate in his left wrist and won’t do anything for a week while the surgical scar heals. But the rehab will start soon after.
The Eagles are four weeks from their season opener. It’s not at all out of the question that Sudfeld is ready for the game. Remember, it’s his left hand. The Eagles operate out of the shotgun much of the time, which puts less stress on the hand. And again, Wentz is healthy.
Pederson reserves the right to change his mind and add a quarterback.
But before that happens, he has to at least see if Kessler can make it happen. Pederson had input on bringing Kessler on board.
“Any time you can add depth and value, and bring in competition, you’re going to do it,” Pederson said. “We talked about it a lot with every position. Quarterback is not exempt. Someone that can come in and push Nate a little bit because Clayton is obviously a rookie and probably not going to get as many reps in practice as Cody and Nate would get. We’re always looking to do that. It makes everybody better.
“Cody has played games. He started games in this league. He’s a guy that has great toughness, as we saw the other night, and has really embraced the offense. He’s in a good position.”
The Eagles are in a good position, too.
After all, Wentz is healthy.