Fitzpatrick would be a fine free agent find
Try not to buy into the talk that the Eagles could take a quarterback with the sixth overall pick in the draft. They love to lob smoke bombs into the pre-draft theater, thinking they’re smarter than everybody.
Sometimes the smoke is so thick the Eagles confuse themselves.
Last year they were supposed to take Pro Bowl rookie receiver Justin Jefferson off the board in the first round. At the last second Howie Roseman rolled with Jalen Reagor, the virtual war room went quiet and everybody but the general manager wondered if they’d been hacked by the Russians.
Jalen Hurts is the Eagles’ guy at quarterback, at least for this season. He’s already taking control of voluntary offseason workouts with Reagor and the rest of the receivers. The alleged interest the Eagles are showing in draftable quarterbacks really is to see who the other teams like. There could be an opportunity to move back a few picks and refill the bucket of resources they lost getting Carson Wentz, who
was shipped to the Indianapolis Colts for a third and a conditional secondround pick.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni brought quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson in to develop Hurts, who fits the profile of the smart, mobile, physically gifted QB with which teams are winning. Hurts obviously hasn’t proven himself, recording a 1-3 record as the Eagles’ starter with a team that basically had checked out early last season.
But you’ve got to look beyond Hurts’ numbers, including the 52% completion percentage and accept that he has the raw tools that have made winners out of Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson,
Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Dak Prescott and even Derek Carr.
Selecting Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, Kyle Trask, Mac Jones or Trey Lance, or choosing any quarterback with the sixth pick but Trevor Lawrence, who will come off the board first, should be a fireable offense.
So, what do the Eagles do for a backup, and possibly a starter if Hurts proves to be overwhelmed?
Ryan Fitzpatrick, and you might have to step on it. The 38-year-old Fitzpatrick is Josh McCown — who was very beneficial to Wentz — only with the ability to come out of the bullpen and win football games. Fitzpatrick is better than Nick Foles, just 2-9 since his tour with the Eagles.
How tough would it be for Sirianni to make clear a role for Fitzpatrick, who has just about seen it all with eight teams in 16 NFL seasons, most recently the opening act in Miami for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa? One minute.
Hurts can win. If he has what it takes to do that regularly over the course of the season, Fitzpatrick will bring it out of him. Those two guys will be on Zoom all night talking football in the offseason, forget the regular season.
And if Hurts stumbles, or is injured, there is no better qualified veteran to lead a young Eagles team and coaching staff than Fitzmagic.
There are estimates out there it would take a guaranteed $10 million contract to secure the services of Fitzpatrick, who played for an $8 million
base salary last season. That’s chump change considering the impact he could have rebuilding the culture.
If Hurts can’t handle the competition Fitzpatrick would bring, we’ve all been wrong about him. I don’t think it would be a problem. There could be a veteran quarterback or two who shakes free as teams slash payrolls next month to get under the salary cap. Foles could be out there, although he’s 32 going on 42 considering the pounding he’s taken. You could do worse than Foles, though.
For the time being there aren’t a lot of vets out there beyond Fitzpatrick who would be beneficial to Hurts.
Here’s the short list: NATE SUDFELD >> Great guy, great stories (ask him about the time a fan insisted he was Foles, so he penned a
Foles autograph). But the Eagles are starting over. Might want to give Frank Reich a call or take graduate courses at his alma mater, the University of Indiana.
TYROD TAYLOR >> He’d be inexpensive, with probably a $5-7 million contract getting him in the door. If you think he had a lot to do with the epic rookie season of Justin Herbert with the Chargers, you’d say yes.
JACOBY BRISSETT >> Not the worst thought, if no one else feels like dealing with the Eagles’ drama. More of a fallback plan.
JOE FLACCO >> The 36-yearold Super Bowl XLVII MVP resides in nearby Voorhees, N.J. He’s more of a complainer than a quarterback groomer.
CAM NEWTON >> Eight touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, 12 rushing TDs last year with the Patriots. That’s all he has left. Turns
32 in May.
At the risk of turning this column into an infomercial, if the Eagles want to create a winning culture, they could use a guy like Fitzpatrick. Beyond the money, the Eagles might want to let him shuttle back to Florida when possible to be around his kids.
He has seven of them, the oldest starting high school. COVID quarantine willing, of course.
The Eagles allowed McCown to fly back to North Carolina to take in some of his son’s high school football games. That paid off big. Fitzpatrick would be a great way to start the rebuild.