April 27, 2026
Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images
Cole Payton is a ridiculously good athlete who can be used in a variety of ways, if that's what the Eagles are intending.
It was no secret the Eagles were going to take a quarterback at some point in the NFL Draft. The Eagles are one of a handful of NFL teams that believe in drafting QBs as frequently as possible.
In the fifth round Saturday, they selected North Dakota State's Cole Payton at 178th overall.
They took Kyle McCord in the sixth round last year. They drafted Tanner McKee in the sixth round in 2023. And, of course, they stunned everyone by taking Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft.
They've now selected quarterbacks in three of the past four drafts and four of the past seven.
McCord is the only one from their recent haul who didn't make the team. He was a pure pocket passer who led the NCAA in passing yards in 2024 for Syracuse after starting his career at Ohio State, but his strengths didn't translate. He was shaky in training camp and even shakier in the preseason. The Eagles waived him at the roster cutdown and brought him back to the practice squad but didn't re-sign him after the season. McCord eventually signed with the Packers.
Payton, despite much less playing experience and a completely different kind of quarterback than McCord, will stand a far better chance to make the 53. First and foremost, he's a terrific athlete with really good size and frame – as Jimmy Kempski noted – and has a strong-enough arm to make most throws.
You won't find too many quarterbacks who can run a 4.56 40-yard dash at 237 pounds and registers a 40-inch vertical. That's actually kind of absurd. He ran a way faster 40 than Josh Allen's 4.74.
Payton has the skills and athleticism that, over time, can help him develop him into a potential solid backup quarterback if he can also mature as a pocket navigator and processor.
But there's one issue that could be a major impediment – he might not actually be a quarterback.
Shortly after the Eagles picked Payton, I reached out to an NFL personnel executive who had put plenty of scouting into Payton. I asked for a brief scouting report.
"Not sure he's a QB," was the response I received.
This personnel exec and the team he works for weren't alone in that opinion. Per the scout, who was in attendance at Payton's Pro Day, Payton was asked that day to participate in non-QB drills but declined.
Clearly, some NFL teams were curious if Payton's athleticism would translate into another position – tight end, perhaps? – or in a role less conventional.
That's where the Taysom Hill comparisons come from, and perhaps the Eagles, who always like to experiment offensively, have the same thought in mind – using Payton as a bigger, stronger (although not faster) version of Hill, who actually clocked a 4.44 coming out of BYU.
Hill has played 188 games for the Saints in nine seasons but only has 308 pass attempts. He has way more than double the number of carries [489] than completions [195], and has 110 career receptions. Hill was Sean Payton's fun, impactful gadget for several seasons, and even played a decent number of real QB snaps for two seasons between 2020 and 2021, but he really hasn't developed into an honest backup QB.
Ordinarily, teams don't prefer to keep four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster – there are barely enough reps in practice for the backup, and the No. 3 usually runs the scout team. The Eagles have a logjam at the position, with McKee backing up Hurts and with trade acquisition Andy Dalton as the abnormal No. 3.
But if the Eagles believe Payton can impact the offense immediately, or even down the road, as a Hill clone, perhaps a new "Tush Push" weapon, then Payton can easily etch his name onto the 53 regardless of McKee's status.
"We feel really good about the three quarterbacks we have here. We plan to have them here. We're excited to have all those three guys here. This has nothing to do with them," Roseman said Saturday, recapping the Day 3 haul, around the 8:00 mark. "It was about staying true to the process that we were going into and taking the best player available at an important position. We're open to carrying four quarterbacks, for sure."
Nick Sirianni also tried to play it close to the vest on his latest QB add but still made it plainly obvious that they value the non-throwing elements of Payton's game.
"Really good with the ball in his hands in the QB run game," Sirianni, sitting next to Roseman, said around the 7:00 mark. "Makes great decisions with the football, accurate passer — 72 percent last year as a starter. You can't be that unless you're make good, accurate throws and going to the right place with the ball. But there are some wow plays on his tape that are really impressive. I think I charted like four times he jumped over somebody or wrote down a bunch of times, 'He's the best athlete on the field.'"
Yeah, you don't hurdle defenders in the passing game.
It'll be interesting to see how and when – or if – the Eagles get Payton on the field this season. Don't expect to see any quirky stuff in the preseason. Best not to put that on tape for the rest of the league.
The Eagles have already recently tried to find multi-positional athletes in unusual spaces, but the options haven't worked out. Two years ago, they signed ultra-athletic linebacker Ben VanSumeren as a rookie free agent. VanSumeren had played running back at Michigan before transferring to Michigan State and moving to defense. He ran a 4.45 at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds – a similar frame to Payton – and logged a 42.5-inch vertical jump. He also played basketball, baseball and ran track in high school.
The Eagles eventually converted him to fullback in 2024 and used him sporadically but liked what they saw. They had plans to use him as a pass catcher out of the backfield and potential kick returner last season, but Van Sumeren suffered a season-ending patellar tendon tear in the season opener, his second straight year with a season-ending injury.
Last year, the Eagles thought they had found a new weapon in Avery Williams, a lightning-quick cornerback and return specialist drafted by the Falcons in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Atlanta converted him into a backup running back in 2022 and watched him average 5.0 yards per carry on 22 attempts. Williams then tore his ACL in 2023 and didn't play an NFL game in 2024.
Sirianni wasn't shy last offseason about his intention for Williams as a gadget, but Williams was injured during OTAs and didn't even stand out enough during training camp to make the team.
Payton has a long way to go before he's true QB material. He started just 13 games in college and last year nearly had as many rushing touchdowns [13] as passing touchdowns [16]. He completed 72 percent of his passes but North Dakota State's playbook has always been highly schemed and QB-friendly.
Payton will need some time to develop on a team that goes through offensive coordinators and QB coaches like a newborn does diapers, so that could be another obstacle – if, of course, the Eagles truly believe he's a backup quarterback in the making.
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