Back in 2012, the Eagles entered the draft with a goal to draft Russell Wilson out of Wisconsin and they didn’t do it. The Eagles’ plan was to draft Wilson with their third-round pick but he didn’t make it that far.
They weren’t going to let that happen again.
In a 1-on-1 interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman brought up the 2012 draft to explain why the Eagles used their second-round pick this year on Jalen Hurts. They wanted the player and they weren’t going to miss out.
In 2012, we had a vision,” Roseman said. “We had a vision that we would draft a quarterback who’s been extremely successful, and I don’t want tampering charges on me but I think we can understand who that was, and then come back in the fourth round and draft a quarterback who won a world championship for us and go back-to-back. And I feel like we got a little cute. And I don’t know that there’s a big difference between taking the 53rd pick in the draft and taking a pick in the third round if you feel strongly about a guy.
When Roseman talks about getting cute back in 2012, this is what he means: The Eagles thought Wilson was going to be there with the 88th overall pick. Their plan was to take him at 88 and then draft Nick Foles in the fourth round. But their plan was ruined when the Seahawks took Wilson at No. 75.
It’s also worth noting the Eagles in 2012 ended up with two second-round picks. They took Mychal Kendricks at No. 46 and Vinny Curry at 59. In hindsight, the Eagles obviously think they should have used 59 (they traded down from 51) to take Wilson instead of hoping he’d be there at 88.
This is where we point out the Eagles were obviously in a very different situation in 2012 than they are now. The Eagles in 2012 were coming off the 8-8 Dream Team year and were about to post a 4-12 mark in Andy Reid’s last season. While their starting quarterback was on a long-term deal, as Roseman pointed out to Clark, Michael Vick was 31 at the time. Carson Wentz is still just 27.
But the main point we think Roseman was trying to make was pretty simple: They missed out on a uniquely talented quarterback they wanted and they weren’t going to let that happen again.
It probably won’t change your viewpoint and this doesn’t suddenly make the selection of Hurts a good pick. But — right or wrong — this is at least a little glimpse into the mindset of the front office.
In the 1-on-1, Roseman again said this pick isn’t about Wentz. That was a point he tried to make on Friday as well.
“Listen, Carson’s a phenomenal quarterback, he’s a phenomenal player, he’s a phenomenal person. And nothing changes on that,” Roseman said.
Maybe this is truly just about adding depth at every position, but it’s still hard to imagine the Eagles’ drafting Hurts in the second round without Wentz’s injury history. I guess we’ll never really know for sure. Roseman said they owe it to everyone in the franchise to make sure that losing one player at any position won’t derail the entire team.
“And we’ve seen that, we’ve seen that happen when the confetti fell on our heads,” he said. “We’ve see that through the years in the 20 years I’ve been with the Philadelphia Eagles where you need depth at every position.”
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