Never Say Never: The Philadelphia Eagles Finally Do The Deal And Get Marcus Mariota

Jordie3/17/2023 1:30 PM

Todd Kirkland. Getty Images.

Imagine being an Eagles fan who is just waking up from an 8-year coma today. You spent the past few weeks of your conscious life doing nothing but making edits of Marcus Mariota wearing an Eagles uniform. Literally the only thing that matters to you in life right now is for Chip Kelly to move up high enough in the 2015 Draft to take his guy as the next franchise quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. You don't care what it takes to move up to one of the top 2 spots. If you need to give up every draft pick from now through the next millennia, you do the deal.

Then you got hit by a bus and have been asleep for the past 8 years. Only to wake up this morning to the news…

I mean, sure, you missed Chip Kelly being the biggest bust we've ever seen in Philly sports history. You missed the Carson Wentz era. You missed the Doug Pederson era. You missed the Super Bowl. You missed Jalen Hurts having an MVP caliber season last year while the 2nd year starter led the Eagles to another Super Bowl with a 2nd year head coach. You missed a shit ton of ups and a shit ton of downs over the past 8 years of being an Eagles fan. But you woke up this morning to the news that the Eagle has finally landed. And that's all that matters.

Now say what you want about Marcus Mariota, but I don't think there's a better option out there to be a backup to Jalen. No shit the dude isn't that good anymore, but he doesn't have to be. The Eagles will hopefully only need Marcus Mariota for two specific purposes this year. 1) Late game situations where the game is already locked up and they don't need Jalen out there for the 4th quarter. And 2) late season situations if they want to give Jalen some rest heading into the playoffs. As long as Marcus Mariota can be serviceable in those two situations, then he'll be the Eagles legend we always hoped and knew he would become.

Honestly there's a good chance that Marcus Mariota becomes an even bigger Eagles legend by being Jalen Hurts' backup than he ever would have become if he was the starter in 2015. I'd imagine this city would hate the ever living shit out of Marcus Mariota by now if Chip Kelly actually did the deal in 2015. It would have blown up in their face, they would have been screwed for drafts to come, and the Eagles would be nothing more than a colder version of the Cowboys right now. But no city in America loves the backup QB quite like Philly does. One good game in midnight green and you'll see about a thousand Mariota jerseys at the Linc this season.

Sidenote: I know that's a decent amount of money to be giving to a backup QB. Especially when you still don't know how much it's going to take to lock up CJGJ. But having a great backup is huge for allowing Jalen to do the things that makes him so special. Let's not act like that's just a throwaway position.

Sidenote: Do the Eagles have the most Heisman winners in the league now on their roster?