Don’t Overreact to Eagles Holding Private Workout with Jared Goff
I long for the day when the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have to worry about the quarterback position on an annual basis.
It seems every year there’s some sort of discussion over who’s going to start at quarterback and who the backup(s) will be, and it tends to dominate the team’s storylines through the whole calendar year. It’s fun to discuss a quarterback battle, but it’s a whole lot more fun to have a franchise quarterback. Is Jared Goff that guy?
The Eagles had a private workout yesterday with the California quarterback, a sign that the team is at least generally interested in him. Both Doug Pederson and Jeffery Lurie have said outright that they want to draft a quarterback in this year’s draft. In fact, Lurie said he likes to draft a quarterback every couple years to try to develop. The idea of the Eagles wanting some sort of quarterback in the draft is both logical and old news. The specific interest in Goff? That’s a slightly different story.
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However, it doesn’t surprise me too much. The fact that they had a private workout shows they want to at least check him out, but it in no way suggests he’s their top guy they’re interested in or even that they’re going to draft a quarterback. It’s a product of them holding a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft and doing their due diligence. For all we know, they could hold a private workout with Carson Wentz a few days from now. They could also hold many other private workouts with players of various positions who are projected to be picked in the top 10. Because it’s not exactly clear what order players will be drafted this year and which teams definitely want each player, it makes sense that the Eagles would explore their options.
This happens every single year, yet everybody seems to over-analyze the exact meaning of all of these meetings, rumors, workouts, etc. Honestly, this is my least favorite part of the entire NFL offseason because so many baseless rumors are thrown around that if you actually looked at it, it would tie every team to like 20 different players each year. There is a zero percent chance the Eagles draft both Goff and Wentz, yet there have been separate rumors that the Eagles are interested in both players. Which one is true? Both could be true, but both could be false as well.
Next: Comparing Chase Daniel's Contract to Backup QBs
It’s clear that Sam Bradford‘s deal was only two years so they could continue to evaluate his long-term potential without being locked into a long-term deal, and Chase Daniel‘s contract was likely only as an insurance backup guy who was already familiar with Pederson and could help him transition as a first-year head coach. So, it would make some sense if the Eagles drafted a quarterback in the first round (even though I disagree with it). In my opinion, it would make a lot more sense if they drafted a QB with one of their two third round picks.
We won’t really have a clear view of what player the Eagles are interested in until much closer to the actual draft, and it’s possible we’ll never really know who they want until they’re on the clock on Day 1. It’s possible that Goff (or Wentz, or both) could be gone by the time the Eagles’ pick comes, which has caused some people to suggest that they will trade up again in the first round. This seems like a big waste of resources, but if they really love Goff and think he has the potential to be a franchise quarterback, I wouldn’t rule anything out.