With Wentz traded, here's why Eagles could take a quarterback with their 1st-round draft pick

The easy part for the Eagles was trading Carson Wentz.

The hard part will be deciding what to do next at quarterback, beginning with the possibility of drafting one with their No. 6 pick in the NFL draft on April 29.

That might seem ludicrous considering the Eagles used a second-round draft pick just last spring on Jalen Hurts, who ended up replacing Wentz for the final 4½ games of the season.

But there are several reasons why the Eagles could go with someone like BYU's Zach Wilson or Ohio State's Justin Fields if either are available, or even trade up to No. 3, which is the Miami Dolphins' spot.

Let's start with this: The opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback don't come around often for the Eagles.

Since drafting Donovan McNabb No. 2 overall in 1999, the Eagles have only drafted in the top 10 twice on merit – in 2000, when they took defensive tackle Corey Simon No. 6, and in 2013 when they took right tackle Lane Johnson at No. 4 overall.

In 2016, the Eagles made two trades, involving two starters and five draft picks, to move up from No. 13 to No. 8 and then to No. 2 to draft Wentz. The deal with the Colts will land them a third-round pick this year and a second-round pick next year. That second-rounder turns into a first-rounder if Wentz  plays 75% of the snaps, or 70% plus the Colts make the playoffs.

This year, there are three players in the draft who are considered franchise-caliber QBs, beginning with Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, expected to go first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed in some order by Wilson and Fields.

We all know how Eagles general manager Howie Roseman feels about his "quarterback factory," a characterization he made after drafting Hurts last spring. 

Roseman's belief in the quarterback position dates to long before that. Here's what he said about trading up to get Wentz back in 2016: "One player can change your team. For us, we know how important that is, that position, so investing in that position was a no-brainer."

Sure, the investment has been costly, considering the draft picks the Eagles gave up to get Wentz, plus the massive contract extension in 2019 that will lead to the $34 million salary cap hit the Eagles will incur by trading him.

But does that high cost equate to making the mistake worse by not having a franchise quarterback to replace Wentz?

If the Eagles feel that Hurts is that franchise quarterback, then fine, draft another position at No. 6. The Eagles could use an impact player at several positions, like wide receiver, defensive line, defensive back and linebacker.

If Hurts is not the franchise quarterback, then drafting one supersedes the other needs.

It would also be admitting that drafting Hurts was a mistake.

Other teams have done much worse. In 2018, the Cardinals drafted Josh Rosen in the first round at No. 10. The very next year, they drafted Kyler Murray No. 1 overall and traded Rosen.

The similarity with the Eagles is that the Cardinals changed coaching staffs in between the Rosen and Murray picks, just like the Eagles went from Doug Pederson to Nick Sirianni now. 

An NFL coach's success is often tied to his quarterback. In 2016, the Eagles hired Pederson and drafted Wentz. In 2017, Wentz was on his way to becoming an MVP before he tore his ACL late in the season and the Eagles won the Super Bowl anyway.

In 2020, Wentz was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, the Eagles finished 4-11-1, Pederson was fired, Wentz was benched and is about to be traded.

One factor in Hurts' favor under Sirianni is that the newly hired quarterbacks coach, Brian Johnson, has known Hurts since he was a little kid. But Johnson isn't making the draft pick; Roseman is.

And really, the Eagles only had the final 4½ games last season to figure out if Hurts is ready to be the franchise QB.

During that time, Hurts completed only 51% of his passes, even worse than Wentz's awful percentage of 57.4%. Hurts also had a passer rating of 76.5, only marginally better than Wentz's 72.8, which was among the bottom three among starters in the NFL.

Hurts' difference is his running ability. He ran for 301 yards, on pace for more than 1,000 over an entire season, something only two other quarterbacks have accomplished in NFL history – Lamar Jackson (twice) and Michael Vick.

The Chargers found their franchise QB last season at No. 6 in Justin Herbert. He threw for 4,336 yards, with 31 touchdowns and a 98.3 passer rating.

Then again, the Giants drafted Daniel Jones No. 6 overall in 2019, and many are still wondering if he's a franchise QB. The Jets took Sam Darnold No. 3 overall in 2018 and appear ready to move on from him with the No. 2 pick in this year's draft.

So the Eagles better be right, of course.

Look at it this way: If the Eagles spend their No. 6 pick on a quarterback, they still  have an extra third-round pick to bolster other positions from trading Wentz.

We can assume that even Roseman wouldn't take two quarterbacks in the same draft, right?

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.