February 18, 2026
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
Would the Eagles be sending a message if they used a Day 2 draft pick on a QB?
Conjecture about the Eagles' plan to replace Jalen Hurts has already started – emphasis on "conjecture."
Most recently, ESPN's NFL insider Jeremy Fowler poured gasoline on the fire in a spot last week on the network's morning show "Get Up" that was mainly about the odds of A.J. Brown getting traded. He also casually mentioned the sweeping offensive coaching staff changes made by the Eagles and said people around the league are outwardly wondering if the Birds will draft a quarterback, perhaps as early as Day 2, to "apply a little bit of pressure" on Hurts.
Here's the clip from Get Up:
.@JFowlerESPN says that many high-level executives expect the Eagles to entertain trade offers for A.J. Brown.
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 12, 2026
Where could you see him landing? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/go1BN5Bq9U
On Tuesday, Fowler appeared on 97.5 The Fanatic and doubled down on what he said he's heard from people around the league:
Jeremy Fowler on the Possibility of the Eagles Drafting a QB on @975Middays:
— 97.5 The Fanatic (@975TheFanatic) February 17, 2026
"Yeah, that's certainly on the radar from the people I’ve talked to. We know what they [Eagles] did with drafting Jalen Hurts in the second round when they had Carson Wentz. I believe that formula could… pic.twitter.com/Hh3yPD3cA4
Why would the Eagles want to apply pressure on the quarterback who's appeared in the playoffs in all five of his seasons as starter, led his team to two Super Bowls, won a Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, and has played a central role in perhaps the franchise's greatest run of success?
But there are reasons beyond applying pressure to Hurts that the Eagles could use a high draft pick on another quarterback for. Ones that are logical, sensible and also not new to the franchise.
The Eagles have four picks in the first three rounds of the 2026 draft, and it's possible they add more between now and late April. Our own Jimmy Kempski had the Birds going QB in Round 4 in his latest Mock Draft. Kempski had the Eagles going QB in Round 2 in his 1.0 version.
But also, the Eagles taking a quarterback on Day 2 doesn't mean they're sending a message to Hurts, even if that's how some NFL higher-ups and league executives will perceive it.
Let's go through some reasons why the Eagles could easily draft a quarterback early in 2026:
The Eagles didn't draft Hurts in 2020 to take Carson Wentz's place. It's a fun, contrived storyline in a vacuum for fans who can't stand how Wentz behaved and forced his way off the team, and who worship at the throne of Hurts, but it's simply not true.
The Eagles had a longstanding belief that having a quality backup quarterback was vital to overall success. Nick Foles validated that philosophy in 2017, stepping in for an injured Wentz and leading the Eagles to their first Super Bowl title.
At the time, Foles was on a two-year deal worth $5.5 million annually. One year earlier, the Eagles had signed backup QB Chase Daniel to a contract worth $7 million annually. In 2018, the Eagles knew they'd need Foles to start the first few games before Wentz came back from an ACL repair. They revised his deal and paid him around $9 million.
The Eagles started to realize that prioritizing the backup QB was becoming very costly. In 2020, with Wentz's cap number exceeding $18 million, they re-signed Nate Sudfeld – a quarterback in whom they had invested three years of coaching – to a modest one-year deal and then used their second-rounder on Hurts. The combined salaries of Sudfeld and Hurts that season were about 2.4 million, far less than what the Eagles had paid Daniel in 2016 and Foles in both 2017 and 2018, and just slightly more than what they had paid for one backup QB (Josh McCown) in 2019.
The Eagles had accomplished their goal of having backups they believed in under a reasonable price tag.
To suggest the Eagles knew they had Wentz's replacement when they drafted Hurts is revisionist history at its finest. Despite Wentz's regression, the Eagles had made the postseason for three straight seasons and threw big money in the 2020 offseason to lure free-agent defensive tackle Javon Hargrave from the Steelers and sent two draft picks to the Lions for Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay.
The Eagles might have had concerns about Wentz's decline and durability, but they were surely not rebuilding – and not anticipating that Wentz was about to completely meltdown.
In the five drafts since the 2020 season, the Eagles have continued to hunt for developmental quarterbacks, drafting Tanner McKee in the sixth round in 2023 and Kyle McCord last year in the sixth round. Meanwhile, they've used the trade market to acquire cheap veteran reserves in Kenny Pickett and Sam Howell.
McKee has turned in two very impressive training camps and in his one rookie season start looked spectacular, passing for 269 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in a meaningless season-finale win against the Giants. He started another meaningless season finale this past year, completing just 53 percent of his passes and throwing for just 241 yards in a loss to Washington.
As he enters Year 3, McKee has trade value, especially with almost one-third of the league on a new head coach. If the Eagles turn McKee into an early draft pick or two, they'd have an empty QB room. Howell is an unrestricted free agent.
Even if they don't trade McKee, there's no guarantee that Howell returns, and the miss on McCord, who recently signed with the Packers after spending 2025 on the Eagles' practice squad, means the Eagles will need another developmental player at the position.
There hasn't been much love from the draft experts for this year's QB class. Barring a stunning development, Fernando Mendoza will go No. 1 overall to the Raiders. It's possible that another quarterback isn't taken until Round 2. Waiting for Day 3 to find another developmental QB might not be in their best interest, especially after the McCord pick didn't pan out.
One prospect expected to go anywhere from Round 2-5 is Garrett Nussmeier, son of former Eagles QBs coach Doug Nussmeier, who was part of the 2024 Super Bowl staff. It's safe to say the Eagles have great intel on him.
Remember, the Eagles drafted Hurts higher than his actual draft grade because they had missed out on Russell Wilson in 2012 and were determined to make sure they didn't get blindsided again on another QB they really liked. So if there's a prospect the Eagles believe has down-the-road potential in this year's group, they could very easily reach again to make sure they get him.
That's more about draft strategy than lack of belief in their current QB.
If there's reason to believe the Eagles are truly putting pressure on Hurts, you don't have to wait for the NFL Draft to see proof. Their wholesale changes on offense already tell the story.
The Eagles decided their offense had finally reached rock bottom after showing signs of decline over the past three seasons and ushered in an entirely new scheme, hiring Matt LaFleur understudy Sean Mannion as OC and bringing in assistants who come from the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan modernized West Coast offense tree.
The expectation is that the Eagles will incorporate West Coast principles – under center, motion, play action – that weren't staples of their past offenses from the Nick Sirianni era. Despite all his success, Hurts has only shown glimpses of consistently using the middle of the field and he frequently avoids shorter and intermediate routes to go big-game hunting, which is his strength.
Hurts will have to adjust to this offense. The Eagles wouldn't have undergone such drastic coaching changes, including losing iconic offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, if they didn't believe they needed to adapt and progress.
There's no certainty that any Day 2 draft prospect will be a better fit for the offense they're about to implement. But there will be a tough decision for the Eagles to make after the 2026 season at the game's most important position if their offense hasn't shown evolution.
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