Eagles Draft Profiles: Jalen Hurts and Davion Taylor

On the second day of the NFL draft, the Eagles shook things up and selected Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts with the 53rd pick in the second round.

Jalen Hurts

Hurts played three of his four years of college football at Alabama, before transferring to Oklahoma to finish out his collegiate eligibility. In his three years with the Crimson Tide, Hurts threw for over 5500 yards and 48 touchdowns.

After transferring to Oklahoma, Hurts threw for 3851 yards and 32 touchdowns with the Sooners and helped lead the team to an appearance in the College Football Playoff. During his time in college, Hurts also proved effective on the ground.

Over his four years, Hurts rushed for 3274 yards and 43 touchdowns at Alabama and Oklahoma, including a 2019 season that saw him rush for over 1200 yards and score 20 touchdowns. Hurts placed second in the Heisman voting in 2019 and has won an SEC, Big 12, and a national championship in his time in college.

The pick is one that left a lot of Eagles fans and members of the media scratching their heads, especially with other positional needs on the board such as defensive back and wide receiver. Names such as Denzel Mims and Kristian Fulton were two selected shortly after Hurts.

It will be interesting to see how the Eagles try to incorporate Hurts into the offense. In college he proved he can run. The idea of using Hurts as a gadget player similar to that of the Saints’ Taysom Hill is one that is intriguing, but using a second-round pick on Hurts for that role is a big reach.

In terms of straight quarterback play, Hurts does give the Eagles a solid backup quarterback option in the case of Carson Wentz getting injured and allows the team to develop another arm.

Davion Taylor

In the third round, the Eagles selected Colorado linebacker Davion Taylor with the 103rd pick. In his two years at Colorado, Taylor racked up a total of 129 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and two sacks.

A major plus for Taylor that could fit well with the Eagles is his speed. He clocked a 4.49 40-yard dash in the combine and shows the ability to be an explosive playmaker along with the Eagles front seven. However, his speed does not make up for his overall lack of experience in football. He only played two years of football at Colorado and one year at a junior college. This inexperience makes Taylor a raw prospect in terms of development and knowledge of the position.

Similar to Hurts, it will be interesting to see how the Eagles plan to utilize his talents and put him in the best positions to succeed. The Eagles had some success with lesser-known names such as T.J. Edwards and Nate Gerry getting snaps at linebacker. 

For Taylor, he will have the chance to make an impact from the jump with how short the Eagles are on linebackers, but it would not be shocking if he becomes mainly a special teams player in his first year in order to develop as a linebacker.

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