The Philadelphia Eagles' top brass, led by GM/not GM Howie Roseman, head coach Doug Pederson and owner Jeffrey Lurie, did their best to pump up Sam Bradford as the starting quarterback for the 2016 NFL season and beyond. When asked a direction question on Wednesday whether a quarterback selection in the 2016 NFL Draft could come early - perhaps No. 8 in the first round kind of early - Pederson hedged his bets, hemming and hawing and saying, ultimately, nothing.
But a recent NFL draft rumor suggests that the talk at the owner's meetings has the Eagles eyeing former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz and, further, considering a trade up to one of the first few selections in order to nab him.
"Don't be surprised if a team like the Eagles makes a really strong move up the board to get (Carson) Wentz," an unnamed NFC executive said. "I don't think he's worth it, but I think they do. Everyone thinks you have to move ahead of Cleveland, but (Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta) will want to get as many picks as possible out of this draft. It wouldn't surprise me if a team moved directly to Cleveland's spot for Wentz."
That's interesting for a few reasons, the first of which being that Wentz may not be as highly coveted as some think. Then again, this is silly season for rumors and reports so its entirely possible that the unnamed exec above simply wants some team somewhere to think the Eagles want Wentz.
It's also interesting because the Browns clearly have a glaring need at signal-caller and it's usually rare to hear that a team without a clearcut answer at the position is willing to pass on a potential franchise guy. Then again, new Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson surely knows what he wants in a quarterback and if it's not Wentz, so be it.
Finally, the Eagles trio of decision-makers really did do their best Wednesday to pump the brakes on talk that they could select a quarterback high. Lurie said that team would almost assuredly add a quarterback in the draft, but he and Pederson both made it sound like the later rounds were more likely to produce a guy who would ultimately be third-string as long as Bradford's still in town.
But really, at this point there's no knowing just what the Eagles or any other team is thinking in regards to the first round of the draft. Pederson said that he'd likely be personally working out the top eight players on the Eagles' draft board, and that almost assuredly includes Wentz.
But with Bradford in place and Daniel getting a nice free agent deal of his own, there's not a pressing need for Philly at quarterback.
Unless, of course, they believe Wentz or Jared Goff or Paxton Lynch can be the type of franchise signal-caller the team hasn't seen since Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid.
