Philadelphia Eagles: 3 Day 2 players with first round talent
Creed Humphrey is another potential Philadelphia Eagles player with a Jalen Hurts connection.
(Read Creed Humphrey’s full draft profile here)
When you are blessed with the name Creed Humphrey, you sort of have to become an athlete, right?
Fortunately for Humphrey, athletics always came easy for the Shawnee, Oklahoma native, as he excelled at both football and wrestling during his high school career before signing a letter of intent to play for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma after initially committing to Texas A&M.
In hindsight, staying close to home was a smart call.
A four-star recruit according to 247 Sports, Humphrey spent his first season in Norman redshirting before making 14 appearances with 11 starts for the Sooners in 2018. Humphrey was named to both the FWAA and The Athletic’s freshman All-American teams and went on to start every game he appeared in from that point on.
Humphrey left Oklahoma as a two-time Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, a two-time first-team All-Big 12 team member, and a one-time second-team All Big-12 member, as well as a member of a Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line in 2018. He also holds the rare distinction of having not given up a single sack over the past two seasons, despite having recorded 1,200 pass-blocking snaps protecting Spencer Rattler and Jalen Hurts.
Oh hey, Jalen Hurts; the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback.
While landing a center who has a full season of experience under his belt playing alongside Hurts presents obvious upside, that isn’t the sole reason Humphrey should be incredibly high on the Eagles’ draft board and would be an absolute steal if he was somehow still available when they initially go on the clock in the third round with pick 70.
Measuring in at 6-foot-5, 307 pounds, Humphrey is a big dude tailor-made for moving bodies in the trenches. He’s also an incredibly athletic big man who recorded a 33-inch vertical jump, a 112-inch broad jump, a 1.74 10-yard split, and a 5.09 40 yard dash at the Oklahoma State Pro Day, all of which are in the 80th or better percentile, according to MockDraftable. Those numbers put him in the same athletic category as Ali Marpet and Joe Thuney, both of whom are currently signed to massive second contracts worth well over $10 million per season.
If tasked with playing in a zone-blocking scheme – the scheme Stoutland has been teaching since the Chip Kelly years – Humphrey could conceivably be a Day 1 starter at any of the three interior line spots with the potential to become a really good long-term stalwart by Year 2.
Assuming Jason Kelce retires after the 2021 season, which may not happen but has to eventually, having Humphrey under contract through the 2024 season would surely make the Eagles a better team, even if it takes him a few seasons to see the field. But when that day eventually comes, whether at guard or center and whether it’s with his college compadre Hurts or some other quarterback roped into the big tent circus affectionately known as the Philadelphia Eagles, you’d best believe Humphrey is going to be ready to rock, even if fans in the 215 will inevitably call him “Humphreys” or just assume his last name is Creed a la Adonis and Apollo.
Assuming they don’t suffer through another string of injuries that decimate their depth, the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line should be a whole lot better in 2021 than in 2020. If that happens, and the team is able to enter the regular season with some combination of Jack Driscol, Nate Herbig, Matt Pryor, and the loser of Andre Dillard-Jordan Mailata in reserve roles, the Eagles would probably be okay in the short-term if they only address their offensive line with late-round flyers and UDFAs. But if Howie Roseman and company want to get proactive for a change and actually address their line depth with a young blue-chipper, there aren’t many offensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft who are better suited for Jeff Stoutland’s scheme and even fewer who could still be around in the third round.