Philly Front Office

It was the best of drafts, it was the worst of drafts, they were selections of wisdom, they were selections of foolishness, it was the reaction of belief, it was the reaction of incredulity, it was the Jalen of Light, it was the Jalen of Darkness …I’ll stop. You get the point, the 2020 NFL draft will be remembered in a lot of ways and has even changed over time. (PSA: This will not be the last nerd reference of this post)

The Quarterbacks

This was supposed to be a legendary QB class. Tua Tagovailoa, coming off a runner up Heisman finish and a National Championship loss, had been the presumptive number 1 pick for years. Injuries cut his season short, but unless something crazy happened, he still looked to be the top QB available. Well wouldn’t you know it, something crazy did happen, and it happened with one of Alabama’s biggest rivals.

Joe Burrow had recently transferred from Ohio State and lit the college football world on fire in Baton Rouge. Leading one of the greatest assemblages of talent ever seen, Burrow guided LSU to a National Title, 15-0 record, and secured a Heisman Trophy for himself by throwing for 60 TDs and 5600 yards. The Tigers beat everyone that year including Alabama and Tua in a 46-41 thriller.¹

The Bengals had the top pick and Burrow was basically a unanimous choice. Even with all that talent, he was clearly the best QB that year. A guy in Oklahoma had been very good, but when the Tigers crushed the Sooners in the National Semifinal, the argument was pretty much done.

For the #2 spot it was between Tua and Justin Herbert. Despite spotty performances against his school’s biggest rivals and in Bowl games, Oregon senior QB Justin Herbert could throw laser beams all over the football field. He’s also 6’6″, white, and has a great head of hair. In other words, he is the stereotype prototype QB. He impressed all the scouts and was selected at #6 overall by the Chargers, one spot behind the Dolphins and Tua.

Next up was Jordan Love. Standing at 6’4″ and coming out of Utah State, Love’s claim to fame was leading the nation in interceptions as a junior. This and his 7-6 record in the Mountain West Conference was enough for the Packers to dream on and selected him at #26 overall. First they just needed him to learn from notorious team-guy Aaron Rodgers. It didn’t go well.

Four QBs were selected in the first round. All of them have become solid pros and earned enormous second contracts. Only Burrow has done anything substantial in the playoffs though… But they were all of them deceived, for another QB was made. In the land of Norman by way of Tuscaloosa, in the fires of getting benched in the National Championship Game, the Dark Lord Saban forged, in secret, a Master QB to control all others. And into this QB he poured all his creativity, his confidence and his will to dominate all leg days. One QB to rule them all. Jalen Hurts was selected #53 and he was going to Philadelphia.

We went absolutely f***ing ballistic. When I tell you I was mad, I woke up my kids yelling about this one. We had just signed Carson Wentz to a crazy big extension, so why in the hell were we drafting a backup QB in the second round??? The brain trust that is my Eagles friend text thread immediately convened like the Fellowship. Some wanted to destroy the pick immediately. Another thought we could use this weapon against the enemy. By the end of the night, I was convinced that the plan was to have a cheap and quality backup behind the oft-injured Wentz who we could most likely flip for first round picks in two or three years, but I didn’t like it. It was the shock of the draft that’s for sure. Not only was Hurts a high profile name through all that had happened to him in college, but the Eagles having turmoil is great for sports news outlets. And turmoil it was.

Carson Wentz should not have felt threatened by the drafting of Jalen Hurts. He just signed a big contract and was the undisputed leader of the team now that Foles was gone. Except we didn’t know that Wentz was a total dimwit headcase who felt threated by literally everyone and would never again be fit to lead men on the football field. We also all underestimated Jalen Hurts and his leadership abilities. He apparently came into Eagles camp that year and out worked everyone all the time. He carried himself like a leader while Carson complained and slacked. When Carson started off the season shaky, the writing was already on the wall. By the end of the season it was clear who QB1 was.

What came next is one of the greatest runs you can see from a QB. In 4 years as a starter, he has one of the best records of all time, was front running the MVP race in 2022 before he was hurt, has been to two Super Bowls, was briefly the highest paid player ever, and just won Super Bowl MVP. No one in his class is sniffing any of that. Tua is a concussion away from serious life injury, Herbert still hasn’t beaten anyone, and Love is now 0-3 against Jalen all-time. Burrow is still great but was drafted by one of the worst franchises in the league.

The Receivers

We needed a WR desperately. That had been true since Alshon Jeffery fell off a cliff post-Super Bowl. The best ones in this class were the Alabama guys (no not DeVonta, not yet) Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs. If you wanted the total package, that was Jeudy. If you wanted speed and dynamic playmaking, that was Ruggs. We wanted Ruggs real bad. Next on this list was Jalen’s battery mate at Oklahoma, CeeDee Lamb. We needed these guys to slip to have any chance at them. Then there was what seemed like a big gap. LSU’s Justin Jefferson was seen as a #2 receiver, probably because his teammate Ja’Marr Chase was just so undeniably special that year. Jefferson was no slouch himself, but just seemed like a lesser Jeudy than someone with any unique gifts.

At the top of the draft we had the previously mentioned QBs and then there was a run on Offensive Tackles, 4 were picked in the top 13. Ruggs went off the board to of course the Raiders, they always pick the fastest guy. Jeudy went next to Denver at 15. Damnit, we weren’t picking until #21. The big problem here was that the Cowboys were picking at #17 and almost assuredly were going to take Lamb. This left the Falcons at #16 as our last chance to jump Dallas. We were hoping they would move up the whole time, but this really was the last chance and Atlanta seemed like the perfect partner because they didn’t need a receiver. They chose…CB AJ Terrell??? He was not expected to go that high, but has turned into a very solid pro. As we suspected, CeeDee Lamb was a Cowboy a few minutes later.²

Okay, okay, no need to panic. This sucks, but at least Jefferson is still on the board. Three picks go before the Eagles but none are receivers. I’m mad but at least we’ll have Jefferson even if he’s not special like the other guys. JALEN REAGOR?!?!? What in the world? The Vikings famously laughed and called in the Jefferson pick immediately. He is now maybe the best receiver in all of football. Reagor might not even be in the league anymore, I don’t want to check.

I want to give the Eagles the benefit of the doubt on this one, but it was bad when it happened and it’s even worse now. The BEST thing you can say about Reagor was that he was supposed to challenge Ruggs for fastest receiver at the Combine, except he didn’t. He ran in the 4.4s. The vertical and broad jumps were elite but the speed was only considered okay. We tried to convince ourselves that his QB at TCU was bad and that he’s faster in the game, but Reagor was never going to be what we hoped he would be. He was a second or third round prospect that we not only over-drafted but passed on a generational receiver to pick. A total disaster.

The Rest

History has been incredibly kind to the Eagles on this one considering the overwhelming success of Jalen Hurts, but his selection is masking a whole lot of bad. In total, the Birds made ten selections that weekend and only Hurts became anything special. Jack Driscoll and Quez Watkins were on the team for a few years, but while Driscoll was a solid backup, Watkins was an awful WR3 whose famous Super Bowl drop may have cost us the game. Davion Taylor was a great athlete who was too small and literally didn’t know how to play football. We wasted a 3rd round pick on him.

Things would change after the failures of this draft and the one before it. Combined, both years yielded a total of 2 starters (Hurts and Miles Sanders). The following year, Howie Roseman finally started taking guys from the SEC. Combine the brilliance of Jalen Hurts and great drafting in 2021 and the Eagles turned two almost completely useless drafts into a Super Bowl team in 2022.

Even if Reagor over Jefferson still stings, we probably don’t take DeVonta Smith the next year if we get this one right. I wouldn’t trade Smitty for the world.

“It is a far, far better thing that I do (sacrificing Jefferson for Smith), than I have ever done (all the terrible WRs like Reagor, Quez, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside); it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known (the dagger putting an end to the Chiefs and winning the Super Bowl)”

1. The talent in this game is unreal. For LSU: Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Derek Stingley, K’Lavon Chaisson, Patrick Queen, Kristian Fulton, Grant Delpit, and Clyde Edwards-Hellair. For Alabama: Tua, DeVonta Smith (200+ yards this game), Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle, Henry Ruggs, Patrick Surtain, Christian Barmore, Xavier McKinney, Trevon Diggs, Jordan Battle, Raekwon Davis, Najee Harris, and Brian Robinson. ↩︎
2. Does anyone remember how funny his home camera was? Lamb was sitting next to his mother and someone who looked like could be his girlfriend. When his phone rang, she tried to pick it up, but Lamb snatched the phone away from her calmly but abruptly. You do NOT touch CeeDee Lamb’s phone. Without knowing at all, I can’t imagine she lasted much longer. ↩︎