Tim Tebow apparently wasn't good enough to man the third quarterback spot for Chip Kelly's Philadelphia Eagles, but another down-on-his-luck former first-round pick may be. According to a report from Rand Getlin of NFL.com, the Eagles and Kelly are interested in adding Christian Ponder to their signal-caller depth chart. Ponder, as of this article's writing, remains a member of the Oakland Raiders, but is likely to be released at the 4 p.m. deadline for teams to reach the 53 player limit.
After the Eagles traded Matt Barkley to the Arizona Cardinals on Friday for a conditional seventh-round pick and then made the surprising decision to release Tebow on Saturday, that leaves them with a quarterback depth chart that is quite thin and, perhaps more importantly, topped by a guy in Sam Bradford who hasn't played a meaningful NFL snap in almost 20 months.
After announcing Tebow's release, Kelly made it clear that the Eagles would continue to scan the waiver wire and pursue potential signal-caller additions.
"We're not done," Kelly said, via CBS Sports. "Whether we add a quarterback to the practice squad or the active roster, we will have a third quarterback in here."
A first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2011 NFL Draft, Ponder has ultimately proved to be a disappointment at the professional level. Ponder did his best to lay claim to the Vikes starting quarterback spot his first two seasons, but fell well short of expectations and has appeared in just eleven regular season games over the last two years.
He wound up with the Raiders this offseason, but it seems like his time in Oakland could be short. If he is, the Eagles and Kelly may be quick to snap him up and add him to their cache of disappointing former first-rounders.
