The Eagles Need to Trade Nate Sudfeld During Day Three of the Draft
The Eagles have found their backup quarterback for the foreseeable future, as they selected Jalen Hurts with the 53rd overall pick in the 2020 Draft. The acquisition of Hurts means that Nate Sudfeld will be knocked down a peg, as he is now currently slated to be the third quarterback on the roster for the fourth consecutive season. With that in mind, Sudfeld's time in Philadelphia needs to come to an end tomorrow, as Howie Roseman should be calling every team to who wants to acquire Sudfeld.
Once considered a high-potential prospect, Sudfeld has been stuck holding the clipboard for pretty much all of his career. The 26-year-old has only played in three regular-season games through five total seasons. In his only long-term action, he set an Eagles record for highest completing percentage in a first career game (82.6%) -- that number has him 4th-highest all-time for any Eagles quarterback in a game. In the other two games, he threw just one pass a piece in (2018 vs Houston, 2018 at Washington); his thrown in the Washington game was for his first career touchdown pass.
Sudfeld recently signed a one-year contract to remain as an Eagle. Doug Pederson went on record after the Hurts selection that the Eagles still have a ton of confidence in Sudfeld, but the right thing to do is to trade him during day three of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Trading Sudfeld will help in multiple ways. First, the Eagles should be able to get at the very least a 7th-round pick for him. There are also quarterback-needy teams out there that might give up a little more to get a guy like Sudfeld rather than risk taking a prospect that is fresh out of college and needs more time to develop and adjust to the NFL. The New England Patriots have four sixth-round draft picks, so a team like them could up one of those picks for Sudfeld. The Eagles could then use their newly-acquired pick to fill one of the many holes that still remain on the roster (rotational safety, rotational cornerback, depth offensive linemen, a third-string tight end, another linebacker, another wide receiver).
The other way trading Sudfeld helps is that he has a $2 Million cap hit. Trading him would result in just $500K in dead money, meaning the Eagles will re-gain $1.5 Million that they can either use on a free agent, use in a contract extension (like Zach Ertz), or let it roll over into the 2021 offseason when the Eagles become more cash-strapped.
It is nice to have enough depth at quarterback where you would feel comfortable with either backup coming into a game if necessary. However, there are way too many holes on this Eagles roster to justify keeping three solid quarterbacks. Which is why Nate Sudfeld needs to be on another team's roster before the end of this year's draft.
