Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman went on WIP this afternoon with Jon Marks and Ike Reese to talk about the NFL Draft.

Of course the opening topic was the horrendous 2nd round selection of Jalen Hurts, and Howie was asked a handful of questions about the former Oklahoma and Alabama quarterback.

His reaction to the fan and media reaction:

(What) I don’t want to get lost is the fact that Jalen Hurts is an Eagle. He’s ours. And this is one of the great college football players of the last four years. He’s one of the greatest character guys in the draft. This is one of the great leaders in this draft. This is an asset to any football team. I want our fans to take a minute and just watch that guy, and see that this is a talented guy we added to our football. It’s okay, you can be upset with me – and let’s not forget, this guy is a person, too, and he didn’t pick himself. That’s the only thing I’m surprised about. This guy is an asset to any football team. He’s a good football player and he’s an asset to our organization.

On the portion of the fan base that’s unhappy with the selection:

To be fair, our history of taking quarterbacks later in the draft, there’s not a great success rate on that. You’re not really solving a problem. We knew there were a couple of positions and a couple of guys that we were discussing on the board (at #53 overall), we had some guys we really liked and we were fortunate to get them later in the draft, not so much later that we could think about the combinations. The other thing we looked at was that over the last four years, we’ve spent $32 million on backup quarterbacks. About $8 million a year, and our cap guys are doing a great job adjusting for inflation, but that’s like $9 million a year. It’s money we can spend on other positions.

What about the red flags from people who think drafting a QB in the second round means you’re trying to replace your current QB?

We’re not looking for Carson’s replacement. I hope Carson plays (for a long time). We just feel like this is the most important position in sports, and we think this player has something to him. I think that you’ve seen that there are opportunities there, where quarterbacks are the most valued position, and you get an opportunity to get one. You think about how it affects all of us. We traded a third round pick for Golden Tate and got a fourth round comp pick back, but if you told me we were gonna trade a third round pick for Golden Tate and he’s going to help win us a playoff game, I would trade a third round pick for a playoff win. I would do that. I would do whatever it takes to win as many games as possible and get another championship parade for the Eagles. There were other good players were were considering, but at the end of the day, is it going to make a difference in all of our lives, if you needed the insurance, or if he has the talent we think people will notice.

The full interview isn’t posted yet, but I’ll drop it in when it is.