The Eagles kick off OTA workouts on Tuesday and there’s plenty to talk about. Here’s everything you need to know about the offense heading into the start of a new challenge for Doug Pederson’s men.
Quarterback:
The Eagles said goodbye to Luis Perez and hello to Cody Kessler last week, completing the Eagles quarterbacking depth chart going into OTA’s and setting up a plethora of things to watch as a result.
Obviously, the health of Carson Wentz is going to be item #1 on the agenda. Doug Pederson was very stingy with information ahead of rookie minicamp when asked how Wentz is progressing and while it’s assumed he will be active during OTA’s, we don’t know to what extent. Ideally, Wentz needs as much time to click with Mike Groh and the new offensive pieces, as possible, after missing an entire offseason last year due to his torn ACL.
Outside of that, Nate Sudfeld will be constantly checking his rear-view mirror thanks to the addition of Cody Kessler. While Kessler shouldn’t really provide any logical threat to Sudfeld’s recently inherited QB2 roster spot, you can’t help but feel a quarterback with over a season’s worth of starting experience under his belt since entering the league, is going to have a leg up, or at least push Sudfeld to a new level.
The Kessler addition really just adds some experience back into the room. With Foles out of the picture, the Eagles lost that veteran leadership and Wentz isn’t in a position to have that kind of impact on the younger guys just yet, because he kind of still is one. Kessler is too, but two heads are better than one, especially with a fifth-round rookie in the wings.
The knock on Thorson coming out of college was his accuracy, especially on deep balls. But the 6’4, 222 lbs quarterback has all the tangibles you could want in a QB. Taking Northwestern back to a bowl game one year removed from a heartbreaking ACL injury, Thorson’s mobility wasn’t quite what it once was, but you can see why the Eagles liked him. The moment was never too big, he’s calm when under extreme pressure and can manage the game well. Remind you of anyone?
It will be interesting to see how Thorson looks in OTA’s after a bumpy rookie minicamp. How closely will Kessler work with him on the field, how closely will Press Taylor coach him on the field? Will he show any signs of improvement? We’ll find out this week…
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