The Philadelphia Eagles are taking a shot on former Nevada quarterback Carson Strong after he shockingly wasn’t picked at all in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Even with some concerns over the health of his knees and lack of ideal mobility at the quarterback position, I don’t think it’s arguable that the most shocking omission from the 262 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft was Nevada quarterback Carson Strong.
Nobody in college football had more touchdown passes than Carson Strong’s 63 since the start of the 2020 season, and he was receiving some first-round buzz at points over the last couple of years.
Now, he’s an undrafted free agent. A player of his caliber shouldn’t need to wait long after the Draft to find an NFL home, surely, and he didn’t.
Carson Strong is signing with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent
A lot of times, you will see NFL teams get desperate and reach up and down the board for quarterbacks on all three days. That simply wasn’t the case at all in the 2022 NFL Draft, which featured just two quarterbacks in the top 75 picks and none between Kenny Pickett at 20 and Desmond Ridder at 74.
Teams weren’t reaching in the 2022 NFL Draft. In fact, for the first time maybe ever, teams were doing the opposite of reaching — they seemed to be letting these QBs fall way further than they probably needed to.
In the case of Carson Strong, NFL teams had to have pretty bad medical info to not draft him at all. He put some throws on tape at Nevada that would have gotten guys drafted in the second round in most of the classes I’ve evaluated.
Now, he’s going to the Philadelphia Eagles to cut his teeth in the NFL as an undrafted player with head coach Nick Sirianni.
The Philadelphia Eagles are signing Nevada QB Carson Strong, per @kirstenlizmoran.
— PFF College (@PFF_College) April 30, 2022
SIXTY-THREE touchdowns since 2020 (most in FBS) 🐺 pic.twitter.com/fijnrt4nZF
It’s a tremendous signing for the Philadelphia Eagles, who essentially are getting another day two or early day three draft pick. Even if you didn’t love Carson Strong’s game or his knee history or his mobility, I think the most pessimistic projections had him going in the fourth round.
The Eagles will have a chance to develop him and perhaps even sneak him around on the practice squad at this point. Strong is a hard worker and he has talent, so it shouldn’t come as a shock if he ultimately does really well in Philadelphia.