Philadelphia Eagles could learn a lot from Chad Henne’s playoff heroics

Of all the teams in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles have arguably prioritized the backup quarterback position the most over the last few seasons. They handed Chase Daniel $21 million to be the backup in 2016, Nick Foles technically accounted for the team’s highest cap hit in 2018 ($13.6 million), and they of course used the 53rd overall pick on a backup quarterback this past spring. Howie Roseman and company have sworn up, down, left and right that this is a good way of doing business, routinely citing the fact that they won a Super Bowl with a backup QB.

The Philadelphia Eagles overvaluing of backup QBs isn’t backed by results.

From an emotional standpoint, I sympathize with their backup QB obsession. They obviously won it all with Foles back in 2017, needed Foles again for an end-of-year postseason run in 2018, and then had to watch 80 year old Josh McCown lose them a home playoff game in 2019 following Wentz’ concussion. The organization was clearly high on a guy like Jalen Hurts during the pre-draft process, so they likely didn’t need much convincing when he was still on the board at pick #53.

With that said, their hyper-evaluation of the position isn’t backed by any sort of statistical logic, and teams all over the NFL are spending far less assets on the position, and getting better on-field results.

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In the AFC divisional round, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves without their superstar quarterback with a whole quarter and a half left to play. Chad Henne, a 35 year old backup on just $1.6 million, was forced to enter the ballgame.

Henne didn’t play particularly well. He threw an ugly interception, and finished the game with a 59.4 passer rating.

However, Henne’s quality of play didn’t really matter in the end. The Chiefs have a high-powered offense with an elite coaching staff, and Henne was ultimately up to the task when asked to convert a game-winning 4th and 1.

See the Chiefs were able to hang on against a very talented Browns squad because they’re a fundamentally sound football team, and a fundamentally sound organization. Their offense is groundbreaking, their defense is loaded with talent, and their play-calling is some of the best in the league; the team was simply good enough to survive a couple drives without their starting quarterback.

All around the league you see NFL teams “get by” with a backup QB at times. Washington almost won a playoff game with Taylor Heinicke for goodness sake!

If we’re being brutally honest, the Philadelphia Eagles “QB factory” strategy was an attempt at outsmarting the league, and it backfired pretty spectacularly. They foolishly drafted a backup in the second round, and now have to deal with the aftermath of a four win season combined with a massive QB controversy.

Howie Roseman and co. should take note of what the Chiefs just accomplished with Chad Henne. You don’t need a former Heisman winner at the backup QB position, you just need a guy who understands the playbook and can make a couple throws here or there.