Eagles sign a UDFA quarterback with a ton of upside

EAGLES

Eagles sign a UDFA quarterback with a ton of upside

The Eagles signed themselves a new Carson on Saturday evening.

As the Eagles make a furious push to bring in players in a very deep class of undrafted prospects, this one is notable.

They are signing former Nevada quarterback Carson Strong, according to Kirsten Moran of Nevada SportsNet.

Strong (6-3, 226) was once expected to be a high-round draft pick in this class but never heard his name called this weekend. He’ll join a quarterback room in Philadelphia that includes Jalen Hurts, Gardner Minshew and Reid Sinnett.

In 2021, Strong put up big numbers, throwing for 4,175 yards with 36 touchdowns and just 8 interceptions. He also completed 70% of his passes for two straight seasons.

So why was he available as a UDFA?

Well, he doesn’t move very well. In fact, he’s something of a statue in the pocket. It’s one thing to not be a threat to run, but Strong is a sitting duck.

But the real reason for the slide is likely his long history of injuries to his right knee dating back to high school. Strong has had multiple surgeries on it, as NFL.com detailed:

“Strong had multiple procedures on his right knee during the offseason, the same knee he had surgery on to repair an osteochondritis dissecans lesion before his senior season at Wood High School in California (eight biodegradable nails were inserted to affix his knee to the leg bone). He enrolled at Reno a semester early and redshirted the 2018 season, earning the team’s Offensive Scout Player of the Year Award. Strong became the first freshman to start at Nevada in 20 years in 2019 (237-of-374, 63.4%, 2,335 yards, 11 TDs, seven INTs in 10 starts). After the 2020 season, however, he underwent surgery to clean up cartilage in the same knee with which he had issues in high school. Strong had an arthroscopic procedure to clear scar tissue in August and had the knee drained multiple times after that.”

So you can understand why that scared away teams during the draft.

With that said, Strong does have the desired quarterback frame and a big arm with the ability to fire passes deep and into tight windows. And he could have big upside as a UDFA.

The Eagles have Hurts as their starter and Minshew as their backup for now. But there’s always a chance the opportunistic Howie Roseman will ship away his backup quarterback before the season, which means there could even be a path for Strong to compete for the No. 2 job at some point.

First, the Eagles will get him into the NovaCare Complex for a physical and to sign his contract. We’ll see if he’s on the field next weekend for rookie camp.

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