TRADE ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Philadelphia Eagles announces Level Up at Backup QB to acquire Alabama’s top player

The Philadelphia Eagles have been one of the hardest teams to predict on the scale of how confident any

NFL team is in their backup quarterbacks.

On the one hand,

you could argue that the Eagles are the kind of team where the backup quarterback only

needs to be somewhat competent to succeed because of how excellent their offensive line,

skill positions,

and defence are.

However, there must be some nuance to being the backup to starting quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts,

who has a skill set and aura that are difficult to replicate.

The Eagles didn’t feel they had that with last season’s backup,

Kenny Pickett,

who was traded to the Cleveland Browns on March 10 in exchange for another backup quarterback,

Dorian Thompson-Robinson,

and a 2025 fifth-round pick.

However, Thompson-Robinson is not the solution. Tanner McKee,

who filled in after Hurts and Pickett were injured late in the season and played better than expected,

isn’t either.

He was last year’s third string quarterback. With Alabama’s Jalen Milroe,

a player who was previously predicted to be a first-round choice,

the Eagles would be wise to upgrade at backup quarterback and deploy a mid-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

Milroe topped Brent Sobleski’s list of players sliding on draft boards on March 14 of Bleacher Report.

“Jalen Milroe, the quarterback for Alabama,

is a fantastic athlete with a lot of potential who still needs to improve his accuracy and footwork,

” Sobleski noted.

“His problems weren’t going to be resolved in a single offseason,

especially as the 22-year-old navigates the difficult predraft process.” Nevertheless,

there was some optimism that his passing performance at the Senior Bowl would surpass expectations.

That did not occur.

Milroe, Famously Benched at ‘Bama, Hurts Both Beyond their initial names,

Hurts and Milroe share a great deal in common.

In addition to starting two seasons for Alabama and being dynamic,

dual-threat quarterbacks,

both players were infamously benched by former

Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban throughout their careers.

Hurts was benched at halftime of the College Football

Playoff National Championship Game against Georgia in favour of true freshman Tua Tagovailoa,

who led Alabama to an overtime victory. Milroe, on the other hand,

recovered from being benched early in the 2023 season to regain his starting position.

Hurts was chosen by the Eagles in the second round (No. 53 overall) in the 2020

NFL draft after spending a season as Tagovailoa’s backup before transferring to Oklahoma,

where he guided the Sooners to the CFP semifinals in 2019.

Hurts and Milroe’s stats over their two seasons as Alabama starting are strikingly comparable;

Milroe finished 20-6 in 2023 and 2024, while Hurts finished 26-2 in 2016 and 2017.

During those two seasons, Hurts passed for 4,861 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

while Milroe tossed for 5,728 yards, 39 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions.

While Milroe ran for 1,057 yards, 32 touchdowns, and an average of 4.0 yards per carry,

Hurts ran for 1,812 yards, 21 touchdowns, and an average of 5.3 yards per carry.