Philadelphia Eagles: 2 Thoughts about Doug Pederson’s QB depth chart

Jalen Hurts #2, Nate Sudfeld #7 and Carson Wentz #11 of the Philadelphia Eagles (Photo by Heather Khalifa-Pool/Getty Images)
Jalen Hurts #2, Nate Sudfeld #7 and Carson Wentz #11 of the Philadelphia Eagles (Photo by Heather Khalifa-Pool/Getty Images) /
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Nate Sudfeld, Philadelphia Eagles (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /

Call it a crazy theory, but isn’t this battle for the Philadelphia Eagles’ backup quarterback position a lot tighter than it should be?

Here’s the skinny on Philly’s forgotten man. He’s six-foot-six. He tips the scales at 227 pounds, and he cut his teeth playing his college ball at a school that’s mostly thought about for its basketball program, Indiana.

As a pro, Sudfeld has thrown 25 passes. 20 resulted in completed passes. He has one touchdown on his NFL resume. You remember the one. It was that game in Washington when he found Nelson Agholor, Nelly gave the ball to a child, and then, he and Nate asked for the ball back.

We get it. That was Nate’s first career touchdown pass, and sure, they eventually gave the kid a souvenir. Regardless, it just looked bad. Thank goodness for the maturity of a child.

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Anyway, we’re regressing. The point is this. Not too long after Sudfeld was making a name for himself in a basketball state, Jalen Hurts would become a legend at two of college football’s most storied programs, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oklahoma Sooners. In 2016, he was named First-team All-SEC, the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year and the SEC Freshman of the Year after leading ‘Bama to the SEC Championship and winning it.

Hurts would win another SEC Championship with ‘The Tide’ in 2018 before his team won the College Football Playoff National Championship. In 2019, as a member of the Sooners, he was named First-team All-Big 12. He led Oklahoma to the Big 12 Championship and a College Football Playoff berth.

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What are we saying? Well, it’s simple. Hurts’ collegiate pedigree surpasses Sudfeld’s. In time, his professional resume may surpass Sudefeld’s as well. The Eagles can be stubborn at times. Look no further than how long they stuck with Mack Hollins or Shelton Gibson. Even still, while Philly may be stuck on the idea that Sudfeld needs to be the first guy off of the bench if something happens to Carson Wentz, perhaps Sudfeld’s performance in the 2017 regular-season finale was a sign.

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The coach is right. As of right now, Sudfeld should be the backup. He’s been with this team since 2017. There’s another side to this though. Just the fact that we think Hurts and Sudfeld are this close in the battle for the backup quarterback position may be enough to tell us that the fifth-year veteran isn’t as good as the Eagles coaches are giving him credit as being.