Philadelphia Eagles get backup quarterback insurance in Clayton Thorson

The Philadelphia Eagles used the No. 167 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft to add depth at quarterback by selecting Clayton Thorson.

Unlike some teams participating in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles felt good over not needing to use one of their top picks on a quarterback since Carson Wentz is clearly their guy moving forward after allowing Nick Foles to walk in free agency.

However, just because the Eagles are sold on Wentz being their go-to guy under center didn’t necessarily mean the team wouldn’t still look to add another quarterback to the mix in the draft, which coincidentally they did in the fifth round after taking Clayton Thorson.

While Philadelphia has all of the confidence in the world at the moment in Nate Sudfeld in regards to being able to handle the duties at backup, the selection of Thorson at least provides the Eagles with a little extra insurance at the position.

Numbers wise, Thorson’s doesn’t stand out like some of the other quarterbacks from this year’s class, but also there’s more to succeeding in the NFL than statistics.

Whether it happens to be his fundamental set of skills or impressive footwork, Thorson appears to be one of those players that Doug Pederson will love to work with moving forward.

Keep in mind that Pederson has an amazing history bringing out the best in quarterbacks, and while the chances of Thorson seeing the field in 2019 are extremely slim for obvious reasons, this is still worth keeping an eye on moving forward as far as the backup spot is concerned.

Sudfeld may be the favorite to be Wentz’s backup at the moment, but the Eagles never would have made the move for Thorson over addressing other areas if they didn’t see some sort of potential in the Northwestern product.

With all of the uncertainty surrounding Wentz with his unfortunate history of injuries over the last two seasons, Philadelphia knows it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the quarterback position.

Now that Thorson is officially part of the mix, it will be interesting to see how things go for the rookie over the next couple of months before the real action gets underway later in summer during training camp and preseason.