There is a bit of a buzz this day after NFL.com Lance Zierlein analyst was quoted on a local radio show as saying that Philadelphia had their ‘hearts set’ on being able to draft North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz at this month’s draft. Of course, it’s been no secret around the league that the Eagles have been checking out his year’s QB class with uncommon urgency. Indeed, they criss-crossed the country last week working out all the top QB prospects including Wentz and Cal’s Jared Goff. And what raised a few eyebrows around the league was that not only did the Eagles take a full complement of front office personnel on their tour including G.M. Howie Roseman and head coach Doug Pederson, but owner Jeffrey took the unusual step for a team picking 8th overall of tagging along. What makes the whole business is little more difficult to fathom is that the Eagles recently extended the contract of incumbent starter Sam Bradford, while signing free agent Chase Daniel as the primary backup. In fact, if one reads Zierlein’s comments closely all he is really is saying is that he is surmising that Wentz is the Eagles’ target based on their pre-draft activities rather than any information he has received from a source. And Daily News reporter David Murphy has a quite different take here. In particular, it is hard to see the Eagles being able to afford to make the move all the way up to the #1 pick which is what it is beginning to look like it is going to take to get Wentz, especially because the Eagles don’t have second round pick this year. What isn’t being said here is that for the Eagles to make that kind of move they likely would have to trade Bradford first and there is no indication at this time that is even on the table, although one would think that a team like Denver might be interested given the fact that the Broncos’ trade with the 49ers for Colin Kaepernick is currently stalled and that Denver has otherwise kicked the tires on just about every QB out there who can breathe (update: the latest has them even considering Josh McCown of Cleveland). Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, another team that is actively looking at this year’s QB crop is Buffalo which has either hosted for a visit or conducted a private workout (or both for Goff, Cardale Jones of Ohio State, Kevin Hogan of Stanford, Christian Hackenberg of Penn State, Dak Prescott of Mississippi State and Connor Cook of Michigan State. The Bills were also the team that took Paxton Lynch to dinner the night before his Memphis pro day earlier this week. The Bills are also another team that has reportedly had some kind of talks with Denver about Bills’ starting QB Tyrod Taylor, who is coming off a decent first season as the team’s starter, but still doesn’t look to be in the same class as the league’s Super Bowl type QBs. Clearly, the Bills, who have the 19th pick, aren’t going to get either Wentz or Goff at that point, but might have a shot at Lynch, although Los Angeles, which picks for slots earlier, is likely also interested. And so might Dallas. Like the Eagles, the Cowboys have been all over this year’s QB class having worked out AND hosted each of the top rated half dozen QBs in search of a long-term replacement for injury-prone Tony Romo. And while no one really expects the Cowboys to take a QB with the 4th pick – or trade up from their to get one – Dallas could be tempted to trade back up into the 1st round from their #2 pick. So many potential perms and combs!
