The Eagles have three young quarterbacks on their 53-man roster: 23-year-old Jalen Hurts, 24-year-old Reid Sinnett, and 25-year-old Gardner Minshew.
While the overwhelming rumor mill buzz lately has centered around Howie Roseman eyeing a splashy trade for a veteran QB... would the Eagles think about keeping the QB room super young?
And maybe use a first-round pick on a QB come April's 2022 NFL Draft?
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NBC Sports' NFL insider Peter King, one of the most plugged-in football reporters period, dropped a miniscule breadcrumb in Monday's Football Morning in America column. King was recapping the Eagles' current draft pick situation, as the Colts' pick from the Carson Wentz trade seems all but certain to become a first-rounder.
Here's what King had to say about the possible uses for the Eagles' three first-round picks:
"Barring something really weird, the Eagles now will have their own first-round pick, and those from the Dolphins and Colts, and all could be in the top 20 of the round. In all, the Eagles will have nine picks in the first five rounds: three in the first, single picks in the second, third and fourth rounds, and three in the fifth. With quarterbacks not projected to be super-high in round one, the Eagles would likely be able to sit or maneuver slightly to draft one ... or package three attractive picks to get a Deshaun Watson or to chase a Russell Wilson."
Hmm. We already know about Roseman's infatuation with a possible trade for a vet. But draft one, you say? That's interesting.
NFL
To be clear, this isn't King doing some hard reporting and saying the Eagles are thinking about drafting a QB in the first round. This feels more like hypothesizing - but when someone as informed as King even hypothesizes, it's important to pay attention.
He's also wisely connecting some obvious dots.
At one point, it seemed the Eagles could have three extremely high draft picks in April as the Dolphins floundered to start the year, the Colts struggled as well, and the Eagles were putrid through seven games. But with five weeks left in the regular season, all three teams have done some winning and their picks currently sit at Nos. 12, 13, and 17.
In a draft that isn't loaded with top-tier QB talent, forcing a quarterback pick in the Top 8 would've felt like a poor use of resources by Roseman. But if these three picks are all going to fall in the early-to-mid 10s? All of a sudden the idea of taking one of the draft's top QB prospects seems a little more possible.
Because for all the love Minshew will receive after Sunday, and for all the things Hurts has done so far this year, the Eagles still have no idea what the future holds at the QB position. You can't definitively say that Hurts is The Guy. What if the Eagles' scouts really like a QB in this draft but weren't going to be able to convince Roseman to use, say, the No. 7 overall pick on him when guys like Kyle Hamilton and Aidan Hutchinson could've still been on the board.
Now it's a far more realistic proposition. Roseman himself traveled to see Pitt's Kenny Pickett and UNC's Sam Howell in person last month, a mildly unusual move for a GM. Does he like the Panthers' Heisman hopeful?
The Eagles are still fully in the thick of a wild card race, and Hurts will have his opportunities to show what he can do when the stakes are high late in the season, but this offseason is going to be absolutely fascinating.
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