Projecting Jalen Hurts' Role with Eagles as Carson Wentz's Backup

The most stunning move of the 2020 NFL draft took place Friday when the Philadelphia Eagles selected Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts with the 53rd overall pick.

They drafted Carson Wentz second overall just four years ago and signed him to a four-year, $128 million extension during the 2019 offseason.

Wentz has largely excelled (97 touchdown passes, 63.8 percent completion rate, 32-24 record) when healthy and played a large part in the team's Super Bowl LII-winning campaign.

The former North Dakota State star suffered season-ending injuries in 2017 and 2018, however, forcing him to miss postseason action.    

Still, Wentz is a good quarterback, so the move is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and ESPN's Field Yates explained what the Eagles may be thinking, however:

Later in the night, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson provided the team's take:

New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill is a jack-of-all-trades, catching 19 passes for 234 yards and six touchdowns and rushing for 156 yards and a score on 27 carries in 2019. He's only thrown 13 career passes but has done damage in specific packages.

Hurts is more than capable of filling that role for the Eagles, but his ceiling is as a long-term starting quarterback for a decade-plus, not a part-time player in small packages.

Unless the Eagles plan to begin a quarterback competition and anoint Hurts the starter, they will not be utilizing the former Sooner's talents anywhere close to their potential.

Hurts destroyed his competition in 2019, completing 69.7 percent of his passes for 11.3 yards per attempt, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also rushed for 1,298 yards and 20 more scores for Oklahoma, who finished 12-2, won the Big 12 and reached the College Football Playoff semifinal.

The former Alabama star also finished second in Heisman Trophy voting to LSU's Joe Burrow, who went first overall to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday.

The 6'1", 222-pound quarterback became Alabama's starter in 2016 and nearly led the Crimson Tide to a national championship before losing in the title game against Clemson.

The Houston native took the Tide back to the title in 2017, but he was benched for Tua Tagovailoa, who threw the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime to DeVonta Smith against Georgia.

Hurts lost his job to Tagovailoa in 2018 but stayed at Alabama for one more year before transferring to Oklahoma. 

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller ranked Hurts as the fifth-best quarterback in this year's draft class. The four in front of Hurts—Burrow, Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love—all went in the first round. Miller also said Hurts had the best mobility in the group.