NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein was ahead of the curve when the Eagles traded up for Carson Wentz in 2016, and he pretty much nailed the Jalen Reagor pick when reporting last Thursday morning that the Birds were “enamored” with the TCU receiver.

He’s been more accurate and connected than most NFL experts, and he delivered today what I thought was one of the better breakdowns of the Eagles’ 2020 selections.

Two topics and his responses:

On the Jalen Reagor selection 


I had heard that Howie Roseman had a thing for Jalen because of his speed. And I know Jalen had a private, or unofficial workout in the Houston area where ran what was supposedly clocked in the 4.2 range, and I take the unofficial 40 (yard dash) times with a grain of salt. But Jalen was much faster than what he ran at the combine.

His speed was never in doubt to me. Never, never, never. I think that’s something that Howie really fell in love with, which was the speed he needed to get. Inside that building, a lot of guys supposedly liked Kenneth Murray. I know Justin Jefferson was a consideration in terms of batting around who was gonna be their selection. Ultimately, I think the ability to play at all three levels, the underneath stuff, intermediate stuff, and deep stuff, that’s really what sold the Eagles on Jalen Reagor, his ability to sort of push safeties back and away from the line of scrimmage.

I think that was a little early for Jalen Reagor, but I understood it.

On Jalen Hurts

My initial takeaway with Jalen Hurts – did I think it was early? Yes. Did I think he was going in the second round? Yes. I knew he was going in the second round, but I didn’t know where it would be.

He’s not Taysom Hill. Anyone talking about Taysom Hill, that’s not who he is as an athlete. He’s more Tebow than Taysom Hill. He’s a runner with the ball in his hands, as a power runner, not a slasher. I think the Eagles honestly view him as a backup quarterback. And they’ve got a quarterback (in Carson Wentz) who has had some injury concerns in college, pro, and dating all the way back to high school. Carson Wentz’s durability is a real thing. I think they view Jalen Hurts as a legitimate backup who offers an ability to get short yardage as well with packages.

I think he’s got some developmental tools, but my personal grade was 4th round.

There’s no clip of the audio, but you can find it at this link and move ahead to the 25 minute mark on the hour 2 podcast.