How Eagles rookie can upend QB room behind Jalen Hurts, cause a trade

PHILADELPHIA − It's not surprising that the Eagles drafted a quarterback when they took Cole Payton in the fifth round of the NFL draft on April 25. It was the third time in four seasons that the self-proclaimed "Quarterback Factory" drafted one. But it wasn't done to challenge starter Jalen Hurts.

After all, the Eagles drafted Payton, just like the other two, in the fifth round or later. Yet there is a method behind the Eagles' infatuation with developmental quarterbacks. And in Payton, this might be the Eagles' most mad-scientist type of pick since the Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round in 2020.

Back then, the Eagles had a franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz, who less than a year earlier got a contract extension that at the time made him the highest-paid QB in the NFL. Hurts was drafted to serve as a cost-effective backup and occasional gadget QB. That is, until Wentz had a miserable season and was benched, with Hurts playing the final 4½ games of a lost season.

As it stands now, Payton would be the No. 4 QB behind Hurts, Tanner McKee (sixth round, 2023) and Andy Dalton, the 38-year-old whom the Eagles traded for in April. Dalton has thrown for just under 40,000 yards in his career that dates back to 2011.