The Philadelphia Eagles moved up from the 13th overall spot in the first round to the 8th in an attempt to grab a top 10 talent in this year’s draft.
Many NFL mock drafts have the Eagles drafting running back Ezekiel Elliot from Ohio State, offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley from Notre Dame, or cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III out of Florida, all of whom, meet crucial needs that the team is lacking in. The belief, however, is that those needs could be addressed later in the draft. The Eagles have 9 total draft picks.
The quarterback position is an underrated need for the Eagles. Yes, they do have Sam Bradford, plus Chase Daniel as a backup, and they invested a whole lot of money in that position; but new head coach Doug Pederson wants a quarterback that will play his style of football and potentially be the face of this franchise.
Bradford is a middle-of-the-road quarterback; he will win you games and has the potential to be elite, but has yet to live up to that hype. Chase Daniel is a backup that could start a few games in relief of a potentially injured Bradford, or to help mentor an up-and-coming rookie to eventually take over as a starter, but to his potential, that is the great unknown for Daniel.
Insert Jared Goff from California, a top 10 player in this year’s draft and one of the top two at the quarterback position. Goff has had his share of ups and downs during his college career, he has dealt with scrutiny about the size of his hands, and how inclement weather limited his production.
Winning did not come easy for Goff in his first few years, but he overcame it, performed, and became better each year.
-Jared Goff’s Career-
GP PCT. % Passing Yds. TD/INT YPA.
2013- 12 60.4% 3,508 18/10 6.6
2014- 12 62.1% 3,973 35/7 7.8
2015- 13 64.5% 4,714 43/13 8.9
Many draft scouts and NFL analysts have compared Jared Goff to Kansas City Chief’s Alex Smith who ironically played under then-offensive coordinator and now Philly head coach Doug Pederson.
Recent reports suggest that Pederson is enamored with quarterback Carson Wentz from North Dakota State and wants to trade up to #1 overall to acquire him, but no one in their right mind actually tells who they are truly targeting less then three weeks from the draft and be genuine about the team’s game plan going into it. I sense it is a smokescreen until they prove otherwise.
The Eagles front office is doing their due diligence in this upcoming draft with scouting every quarterback, getting a feel for each player at that position to see if they are worth trading up for, and if the player has the ‘It Factor’ to become the next franchise quarterback.
Goff could be that franchise guy the Eagles have coveted since Donovan McNabb. If I were the Eagles, I would do what is possible to acquire Jared Goff at #8, or trade up to grab him. Goff is hungry and has a lot to prove. The Eagles will not be disappointed.