Philadelphia Eagles called ‘geniuses’ following Gardner Minshew addition

You know the story well. Despite inking the man formerly known as the Philadelphia Eagles franchise signal-caller, Carson Wentz, to a long-term mega-deal, Philly drafted another quarterback, Jalen Hurts, during the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Then, the Carson Wentz thing didn’t work out.

Dare we say that there’s a possibility that a move Eagles executive vice president and general manager Howie Roseman got bashed for might wind up being one of the smartest things that he ever did?

A lot has to happen. Jalen Hurts must improve on a 52-percent completion percentage and evolve into this team’s long-term answer at quarterback, but Howie looks a lot smarter now than he did about a year ago.

His recent coup, one that brings Gardner Minshew to Philadelphia, has to qualify as another good move in what’s quietly been a very successful offseason. It also has Birds fans and NFL pundits grinning from ear to ear.

Calling the Philadelphia Eagles G.M. a genius might be a stretch though.

Recently, one of the more popular content creators on YouTube, FlightMike (he’s a nice up-and-comer to watch) labeled the Birds as ‘geniuses’. Take a look at this one. It comes courtesy of his Mikerophone YouTube page.

By now, you’ve watched enough of the Roseman formula to know how this works. He overspends on old guys and restructures other guys (and some of the old guys). He hits on about 35 percent of his draft choices (or less). Then, he masks that by busting his arse to make Philly salary-cap compliant so he can go mask those bad draft choices by signing free agents.

The Minshew move is a wise one though. Hurts is on a second-round rookie deal. Joe Flacco was added, but he’s only in town for a year.

Minshew, a sixth-round draft choice in 2019, will earn $850,000 in 2021 and $965,000 in 2022. Talk about being economical. He also gives Philly another option if injuries occur or if Philly’s first plan, ensuring Hurts’ success, takes a hit. Teams can never have too many options at the signal-caller position.

Minshew isn’t Philly’s backup despite what some of you think. Joe Flacco is the backup. He’s in if Hurts goes down, but Minshew could be the backup next season. He can also run the scout team. That may be reason enough for Philly to carry three quarterbacks into 2021.

The jury is still out on whether or not Howie Roseman and Philly’s leadership structure can be thrown into the ‘genius’ category. Still, while some are hesitant, it’s hard to argue that his offseason rivals any offseason of any executive in the National Football League.

Nabbing a starting-caliber quarterback and doing so by giving up a conditional sixth-round draft choice, one that might eventually wind up being a fifth-rounder has to be seen as a major win. We’ll see how that turns out.

Minshew would have to play about 50 percent of the plays in three regular-season games in order for that to happen. Again, that isn’t going to happen more than likely as Joe Flacco has earned the backup role.