Philadelphia Eagles: Meeting with Carson Strong is totally normal

Welp, turn on the lights and fire up the conveyor belts; the Philadelphia Eagles‘ quarterback factory is open for business… except probably not really.

Did the Eagles meet with Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong at the Senior Bowl? Yes, according to Crissy Froyd, who is The Draft Networks’ quarterbacks expect, Strong interviewed with Washington, the Saints, the Steelers, the Eagles, and the Titans. Will the Eagles surely at least do their due diligence on other quarterbacks before the end of the week, the month, and draft season as a whole?

Yup. With only three quarterbacks on the roster, the Eagles will indeed look into all of the potential avenues to make their roster better, from looking into signing a veteran signal-caller, to the trade market for Gardner Minshew, and yes, the NFL Draft, but that doesn’t necessarily say anything about the team’s current situation or how they feel about Jalen Hurts moving forward.

As things presently stand, Strong is expected to be drafted somewhere in the first two rounds, either at the end of their first or the beginning of the second round. Could the Eagles look to draft him there, whether with one of their three picks or if they secure an extra second by trading down for future capital? I mean, probably not, but hey, you never really know. Many a player expected to go on Day 3 have been selected in the first round, and quarterbacks like Kellen Mond, Chris Simms’ third-favorite quarterback in last year’s class, fell all the way to the third after garnering late first-round hype.

But if the other Carson, Carson Strong, suffered a similar fall down to the middle of the third round, would the Philadelphia Eagles actually be interested? And if so, how would he fit into Nick Sirianni‘s scheme? Let’s try to find out.

Strong would present a radically different QB2 for the Philadelphia Eagles.

On the field, Carson Strong looks a lot like Philadelphia’s own Matt Ryan.

The duo stand at an identical 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, and are renowned for their abilities to pick apart a defense with their arms from within the pocket, not their legs outside of it. Like Ryan, Strong has a cannon for an arm and has actually thrown for more yards in three seasons as a fourth-year junior at Nevada than his counterpart did in four at Boston, but he comes into the NFL evaluation period with serious questions about his knee, which could result in some teams knocking his draft grade ever so slightly due to “durability concerns.”

Still, despite coming off of a February knee surgery in 2021, Strong went off for 4,186 yards and 36 touchdowns versus only eight interceptions while completing 70-plus percent of his passes for the second-straight season. Say what you will about the strength of the Mountain West Conference, but Strong led a Nevada team that isn’t exactly a dynastic program to three straight seven-plus win seasons and took his squad to a bowl game in each of the seasons he started.

For a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, who similarly drafted a big-armed quarterback well over a decade ago in the first round, Strong could be a wonderful option in the mid-20s who could either start right away or sit a year behind the team’s wealth of stopgap options, but what about Pennsylvania’s other football team? How would Strong fit on the Eagles?

Well, it’d certainly be interesting.

Of the options currently on the team – Jalen Hurts, Gardner Minshew, and Reid Sinnett – Strong has both the biggest arm and the least mobility outside of the pocket. Like Minshew, Strong came up in an Air Raid system, which showcased his arm strength but didn’t require many snaps from under center, advanced defensive reads, or reason to audible at the line of scrimmage outside of a basic run or pass decision. If Strong can learn those aspects of the game, remain healthy, and adjust to NFL defenses admirably, he certainly has the basic tools in place to become an NFL quarterback, but clearing those hurdles is easier said than done.

If the Eagles aren’t sold on Hurts and want to go in the opposite direction at quarterback, drafting Strong would present a potential changing of the guard without the sort of splash associated with trading for one of the bigger named players assumed on the market this spring, but would it be wise to invest a premium draft pick, even if he slid to the third round, on another sub-26-year-old quarterback? For my money, probably not.

One way or another, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to address their quarterback position this offseason. They might sign a veteran backup with starting experience as Jalen Hurts insurance, trade away Gardner Minshew to recoup draft capital, or even draft another quarterback to fill out their room and groom moving forward, but realistically, that player probably won’t come off the board until the fourth round at the earliest, as the team just has too many other holes across their depth chart to justify selecting a potentially third-stringer with a top-130 pick.