The closer we get to the 2016 NFL Draft, the likelier it seems we’re going to have another night of two quarterbacks going with the first two picks. At the moment, it seems like the Los Angeles Rams will select Jared Goff out of California, which leaves Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Before all the trades were made, the Tennessee Titans had the number one overall pick, and most thought they’d be taken Laremy Tunsil to build a formidable line in front of Marcus Mariota. But the Titans think they can do it without picking first, so they traded their pick with the Rams. In return, they got a 15th overall pick in return, two second round and two third round selections this season. They also got the Rams first round and third round picks in 2017, while also giving up a fourth round and sixth round selection this year.
Up until this point, it looked like the Titans are taking Tunsil and the Cleveland Browns, picking second overall, will go with Wentz. But the Browns either think they’re good to go with Robert Griffin III, or really like a quarterback they don’t think deserves to be selected so early. And so they made a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, which is quite shocking because they signed Sam Bradford on a two-year deal this offseason and brought over Chase Daniel to be a very expensive backup.
The Browns gave up their second overall pick and a fifth rounder in 2017, while the Eagles gave up the 8th overall pick this season along with third and fourth round selections. In 2017, the Browns will also get a first rounder, and a second rounder in 2018. This means the Eagles really know who they want, and think that player is going to be extremely meaningful for their future. This puts a lot of pressure on whoever it is (probably Wentz), because if he doesn’t work out, the Eagles shot themselves in the foot when it comes to building and improving through the draft.
So why Goff to the Rams and Wentz to the Eagles? Up until the last couple of weeks, Wentz seemed to be the number one quarterback on the board. The Rams were too low to be considered in the competition for both of them, and the Eagles didn’t look like a team on the lookout for a quarterback. But then the Rams made their move, and they’ve liked Goff all long, which means Nick Foles and Case Keenum don’t have much of a future in St. Louis, unless they’re happy with being backups. The Rams did risk a lot to get a quarterback, maybe the final piece missing in their puzzle after over a decade of missing the playoffs. But they’ve also selected Sam Bradford in the past at number one, and it didn’t get them anywhere.
It’s been a very long time since the Eagles have counted on the draft to supply them with the quarterback of the future. And maybe they still have some sort of surprise to show the world and not take Wentz while holding on to Bradford and Daniel. But if that’s true, then moving up from 8th to 2nd while giving up so much makes very little sense, not to mention their angling by making that Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell trades to the Dolphins. It’s going to be shocking, and highly controversial considering everything they gave up, if it’s not a quarterback all this hassle was for.