(I had a huge brain fart and thought Peter King wrote this story, but it was an Albert Breer column. That’s why it was deleted and re-posted)

In a compilation of post-draft notes, Breer dropped these tidbits about the Eagles’ second round selection of quarterback Jalen Hurts:

I’ve got a couple of fun notes on the Eagles’ vetting of Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts, which provided the runway for his selection as the 53rd pick on Friday. One, VP of player personnel Andy Weidl actually got live exposure to Hurts in game action—he was on site for the Sooners’ 52–14 beatdown of West Virginia. Hurts threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-17 passing, and his only incompletion came on a drop by Drake Stoops (yup, Bob’s son); and he rushed for 75 yards and two more touchdowns on 10 carries. Two, pass-game coordinator Press Taylor was on site for Oklahoma’s pro day on March 12, which took place just before the scouting circuit was shut down, and gave Philly another data point to work off. Obviously, both of those guys had positive impressions. And again, I think the main argument here is how high Hurts was picked, given that the Eagles just gave their young franchise quarterback a top-of-the-market deal. Only time will tell us the rest of the story. And if you want something to track coming out of all this: Southern Illinois S/LB Jeremy Chinn (Panthers) and Ohio State RB J.K. Dobbins (Ravens) were two players I’d heard would’ve been under consideration, had Hurts not been the pick at 53. Gun to my head, I say Philly would’ve taken Chinn in that circumstance.

Chinn was an interesting prospect who ended up going 11 picks later, #64 overall to Carolina. He ended up at a smaller college because he was dealing with an injury in high school, during the heaviest part of the recruiting period. Lance ZIerlein, who was very accurate with his draft notes and predictions, compared him to Vikings safety Harrison Smith.

Dobbins was taken at #55 overall by the Ravens, and that would be intriguing since the Eagles used a second round pick last year on running back Miles Sanders. The 1-2 punch of Sanders and Dobbins, a couple of quality players from elite Big 10 programs, would have been fun to watch in Philly. If the NFL season started today, you’d have Boston Scott and Elijah Holyfield behind Sanders on the depth chart.


Also, that game Weidl watched in person? The film should be thrown in the trash. WVU’s defense stunk in 2019 and Oklahoma had a monstrous talent gap in the trenches. That was not the best indicator of Hurts’ NFL potential.