Do the Philadelphia Eagles have a (backup) plan at QB?

After losing Nick Foles to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency, do the Philadelphia Eagles have a concrete answer at backup quarterback in 2019?

The Philadelphia Eagles have serious issues at quarterback.

Now granted, a lot of that has to do with Carson Wentz, who, when healthy, is among the best players in the NFL regardless of position, but very seldom is healthy, but their depth chart is a shell of its former (2018) glory.

With Nick Foles now a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, attempting to return the franchise to prominence alongside his former NFC East for Tom Coughlin (who’s transitioned to a front office role), the Eagles have addressed quarterback not once, or twice, but three times since the 2019 NFL calendar year began.

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But really, do any of the team’s signees make you feel good if Wentz suffers his third straight season-ending injury?

First, there was Nate Sudfeld, Wentz’s 2016 draft classmate and the team’s third-string quarterback since being waived by the Washington Redskins in 2017. Though he’s only appeared in three games over three years with the club, throwing for all of 156 yards and a touchdown, Howie Roseman felt confident enough in his abilities to extend a second-round tender to keep him in the fray for the 2019 season.

From there, the Birds made a surprise decision to draft Northwestern signal caller Clayton Thorson with the 29th pick in the fifth round (167th overall). Again, the move received mostly favorable praise, as Thorson played pretty well for the resurgent Wildcats and he compared favorably to 2017 second round pick DeShone Kizer as per NFL.com, but with more immediate contributors like Rutgers safety Saquan Hampton, and West Virginia linebacker David Long still on the board, the move felt odd, even if he was the best player available.

With Thorson in the fold, the Eagles conceivably have the heir apparent to Sudfeld for 2020 and beyond, and should be able to maintain continuity at the (second) most important position on the team for years to come.

And then Roseman decided to sign a third member of the 2016 quarterbacks class: Cody Kessler.

Now on the surface, this move was not particularly of note, as teams often have an abundance of quarterbacks in camp, especially with their starter not expected to be a full go until summer,  but they don’t typically add 26-year-old former third-round picks with 12 career starts to 17 total appearances to such a ‘camp arm’ purpose.

No, Kessler, who was free to sign anywhere he pleased, opted to join the Eagles for a reason.

While we may never know exactly why the USC product decided to join the Eagles this summer, as he really doesn’t have any obvious connections to the Delaware Valley, Kessler, and his agent, clearly felt that there was an opportunity in Philadelphia that wasn’t present in a more obvious, quarterback-hungry situation like, say, his hometown team the Los Angeles Chargers.

With three quarterbacks now conceivably vying for maybe two spots, could the Eagles backup plan to Wentz be far less defined than we’d initially hoped?

Ultimately, adding Cody Kessler, and a spark of competition to the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks room certainly can’t hurt the team moving forward, but there’s an old adage in football that states if you have two starting quarterbacks you don’t have one, and with this third acquisition in as many months, maybe said phrase applies to backups as well.