When the Eagles' front office, scouts and coaches met back in January, they weren't satisfied with their quarterback depth chart. From there, they immediately got to work, signing both Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel to deals.
Then the second big trade of the offseason happened on Wednesday and the Eagles have now positioned themselves to select a top-tier quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft. Howie Roseman expressed the team's excitement about the move and its depth at the position on the Eagles Live podcast with Dave Spadaro.
"When you study the teams that are competing year after year, they have quarterbacks," Roseman said. "They have quarterbacks that are playing on a continual basis. The ones that don't have them are going to do whatever they can to go get them. So, we feel like we've got to get back into developing them and making sure that that position is as good as any in the National Football League.
"Really, we look at this as just a unique opportunity. Outside of it, we committed to Sam. Sam's our starting quarterback. That's why we had traded a two for him last year. That's why we gave him the contract we did this year. Then for Chase, it was an exciting player for us to add to our football team – his knowledge of Doug (Pederson)'s offense, things that he brings to the table. So, we want to invest in the quarterback position and certainly we did that here."
Roseman also explained that the Eagles are happy landing either of the draft's top two quarterback prospects in Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, believing both players would be able to help lead them to success in the future.
It's why the team was willing to give up what they did for the second overall pick.
"Getting top-level play at the quarterback position is worth its weight in gold and we looked at it from a short-term and a long-term perspective for this organization, for this franchise because of the uniqueness where we're picking," Roseman said. "We're sitting there January 1 and we're picking 13th. Now, we're picking (at No.) 2 and we didn't have a second-round pick. Now, we've lost some things going forward. There's no question about it, but that's what free agency was for. That's why we were aggressive in free agency with getting guys like Brandon Brooks, (Rodney) McLeod, just to name a few."
When a rookie enters the National Football League, there are a number of adjustments he has to make. Usually, he has to move to a new city and become acquainted with new teammates, all while trying to do everything possible to smoothly transition from the college ranks.
On this week's episode of the Eagle Eye in the Sky podcast, Fran Duffy hosted former Eagles linebacker Ike Reese, who gave his perspective on just how difficult the jump to the NFL can be for a first-year player.
"When you go from high school to college, you sort of choose where you're going," Reese said. "You have an idea of where you're going. You even get prepared to go because some people commit a year early, two years early. With the NFL or any other professional league where you draft amateur players, waiting on that Draft Day, you don't know if you're going to be on the East Coast, West Coast, in the South, in the Northeast. Am I going from playing in Florida to now in Green Bay, where now I have to get adjusted to cold weather?
"That's only part of it and then when you talk about on the field, I mean the speed of the game, the detail that goes into studying, whether it's offense or defense, it's so much more complex than what you see at the college level. It makes your head spin. When I see rookies come in and they're producing early in the season, through Training Camp and it goes through the regular season, I'm amazed by that."
Also On The Eagle Eye In The Sky Podcast:
Chalk Talk with Ike Reese at 1:27
Two-Technique at 17:36
Saturday Scouting on Marcus Smith at 23:25
For nearly 40 minutes, Chris McPherson, Fran Duffy and Alex Smith went over all of the top storylines with NFL Draft Insider Tony Pauline. In a rapid-fire format, the three asked Pauline about all of the big names and storylines in this year's NFL Draft. Of course, as it relates to the Eagles, who is going to be selected No. 1 by the Los Angeles Rams?
"I think it's going to be Goff for a couple of reasons," Pauline said. "Goff has great accuracy, pinpoint accuracy. He adds California flavor to a team that's moving back to California, so I think he makes a lot of sense. Also, Goff is the better warm-weather quarterback."
