Nate Sudfeld
After signing his RFA Tender this offseason, Sudfeld looked to inherit the QB2 spot left behind by Nick Foles. The natural QB conveyor belt seems to be rolling, but the question becomes, will Sudfeld make another leap in 2019 and attract attention from elsewhere, with a higher ceiling to win a starting role, or remain content learning under Wentz?
Sudfeld was poached from the Redskins practice squad at the start of the 2017 season and saw his first NFL experience in a week 17 loss to the Cowboys. The Eagles backups may not have been able to score against the Dallas starters, but Sudfeld looked surprisingly composed. Completing 19-23 passes, the young signal caller was able to sustain drives, for the most part, avoiding turnovers, and risky decisions.
Completing 43/74 passes for 5 touchdowns and 3 picks in the preseason that followed, Sudfeld showed he was not afraid to take some big shots downfield. In fact, he was responsible for the stunning Shelton Gibson breakout fans had been pining to see all offseason long. Sudfeld’s arm-strength left fans purring, safe in the knowledge that the future of the QB position may be the most secure in the NFL.
With his first regular season Tuddy under his belt, Sudfeld walked into OTA’s with a spring in his step. The issue is, that the Eagles brought Cody Kessler into the fray, who is already breathing down Sudfeld’s neck. We’ll touch on that battle a lot more shortly, but it’s one that should drive Sudfeld to another level. It has to.
There’s no veteran QB for Wentz to lean on anymore and if he does go down with an injury, the Eagles will turn to ‘Studfeld’ to carry the torch. This has to be his strongest, most consistent training camp yet. No more flashes in the pan, or great plays in preseason, immediately extinguished by silly interceptions. If there is pressure on anyone you can argue it’s Nate Sudfeld.
On the other hand, Sudfeld has taken great strides during his time with the Eagles, as evidenced in our film study below. He may well be one of the NFL’s best kept secrets at quarterback, but that may not be the case for long if that trend continues with added fuel into the fire.
Cody Kessler
The signing of Cody Kessler was one of the more surprising offseason moves on the surface, especially after the drafting of Clayton Thorson. But it makes a lot of sense when contextualized.
A former third-round pick of the Cleveland Browns, Kessler has played in 17 games in his three-year career, starting 12 (winning 2 games). Completing 64% of his passes, passing for 8 touchdowns and 5 picks, Kessler has become somewhat of a game manager, which is what maybe led him to Jacksonville in 2018.
He went 0-8 during his stint with the Browns, but after being traded to the Jags for a conditional seventh-round pick, found a new lease of life…kind of. When the Jags benched Blake Bortles toward the end of last season, it was Kessler who took over the starting role, going 2-2 and proving that he can be dropped into the deep end and perform adequately.
The USC product, in his own mind, will undoubtedly be honing in on an opportunity to snatch away the QB2 spotlight from Nate Sudfeld. It’s possible, but it’s going to take a lot. It’s a unique opportunity for a quarterback who at 25-years old, has played in a full season’s worth of games and still has plenty of upside, to prove he’s ready to be a long-term backup. This is a really important offseason for Sudfeld, who will naturally be graded in comparison to a quarterback who was once the starter for the Browns, and started 4 games for the Jags last year. Is Sudfeld now a fringe starter, or can he play like one? This will give the Eagles a rough grading scale.
Kessler knows this is likely an audition to the rest of the league, but it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, if he beats out Sudfeld and maybe even snatches a QB2 role away, he should. He has plenty of starting experience, was a third-round pick, and arguably a higher upside. On the other, if he loses out to Sudfeld, why would a team want to take a flyer on a former starter who couldn’t beat out a QB yet to play a really meaningful game?
Let the battles begin.
Clayton Thorson
It’s safe to say that at this stage in the offseason, Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson is at the bottom of the QB pecking order. The Eagles drafted Thorson in the fifth-round in an effort to resume their almost cyclical drafting of signal callers, but Spring hasn’t exactly been kind.
Thorson was wobbly during rookie minicamp and OTA’s and the question already doing the rounds is whether or not the Eagles would risk exposing him to waivers in order to place him on the practice squad.
At 6’4, 222 lbs, he has the size Pederson would want in his quarterback, but the inconsistency on the field is likely what’s stopped him from soaring up draft boards in a relatively weakened class. He’s tremendous on shorter, intermediate routes, delivering a zippy bullet pass and scanning through his first few reads cleanly. It’s when he’s asked to let plays develop where the waters get murky.
Cody Kessler and Nate Sudfeld are performing at a very similar level behind $128M man Carson Wentz, leaving Thorson with a lot of ground to make up. It will be down to the other QB’s in the room to help bring Thorson up to speed and he’s likely going to be the signal caller taking the bulk of snaps in preseason week 3-4, but expect a training camp of highs and lows, rookie teething problems for a QB who seemed to struggle with mid-percentage throws in college.
