Philadelphia Eagles might keep a quarterback in quarantine

Might quarantining a quarterback be a good idea for the Philadelphia Eagles?

Well, with no Philadelphia Eagles fans being allowed at Lincoln Financial Field (and, apparently with tailgating being out of the picture as well), it’s obvious that, even though this NFL season seems to be going on as planned, things will continue to get a little stranger before they return to normal.

That’s understandable though. Safety is still the biggest topic of discussion at camp for each of the NFL’s 32 teams, and one aspect of a few earlier discussions, a theory that most of us discussed earlier in the process but haven’t brought up as often since then, has reintroduced itself into several conversations.

Should teams keep at least one of their quarterbacks in quarantine? It might be a wise idea just in case the unthinkable happens.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson weighs in.

On the final Saturday of September, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson spoke with the Philly media. Among the topics were the team’s plans for being actively involved in social justice initiatives and what’s going on with this team’s offensive line.

Coach also talked a little about whether or not Philadelphia might keep a quarterback in quarantine. Earlier in camp, Doug Pederson spent some time dealing with the effects of Coronavirus himself and even stated the following:

"If it happens, and you hope it happens early enough to where you don’t get to the regular season, but conversations that are ongoing still with my staff and the offensive guys on staff, Press (Taylor) and Rich (Scangarello), Marty (Mornhinweg), those guys, and haven’t decided anything yet on that, obviously, but it is something to consider as we move forward."

Pederson’s diagnosis meant that other assistant coaches who had spent a considerable amount of time around him needed to quarantine as well, Eagles quarterbacks coach Press Taylor for instance, but he’s back at camp now.

Even still, you have to wonder what it would mean for Philly’s season if Carson Wentz, Jalen Hurts, and Nate Sudfeld all fell ill at the same time. Maybe keeping one of them isolated is a wise decision. Coach touched on that briefly on Saturday.

"Those are things that I’m still considering… Right now, because our protocols that we have in place are working, the league protocols, we haven’t divided that room up. We’re still in that room. We are practicing the social distancing in the rooms. We’re staying away from each other as much as we can there. We’re doing a lot of things virtually, but I haven’t made a decision one way or the other… It’s such a fine line right? If it is a backup quarterback, you have to think about (him) not getting the reps during the week and getting around your teammates. There’s all kinds of things that factor into that process, so things are ongoing as it stands today."

Let’s say the decision is to keep a backup quarantined during the week. The immediate theory, for some, is that the best choice to do so would be Nate Sudfeld. He’s been around longer and may not need the experience of wearing the headset and carrying the Microsoft Surface tablet as much as Hurts might need it. Also, Hurts may have a few plays in the offensive package come game days.

Here’s where we are with it as the ‘ITI’ staff. Let Hurts get the sideline time and the experience. Sudfeld, the more experienced of Philadelphia’s two backups makes the most sense as the guy the ‘Birds’ should isolate. He seemingly wouldn’t need to do as much to get ready as Hurts would if anything were to happen to Carson Wentz.