College football is back in full swing. Saturdays are filled with games upon games. Teams are still feeling themselves out, and players are still trying to make, maintain or elevate their reputations. These reputations and pedigrees can translate to major moves as the season draws closer to the end and the draft, which is synonymous with a college football season’s ever-changing narratives, continues to grow.
The Oklahoma Sooners have a few players under consideration for the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. However, their leader and signal-caller is the one being considered as a possible top pick.
Pro Football Focus doesn’t see that in its most recent 2022 NFL mock draft.
Malik Willis, a talented quarterback out of Liberty with a cannon and running ability in spades, has the top spot in that mock and is headed to the Houston Texans.
Rattler, in this exercise, comes off the board at No. 7 to the Philadelphia Eagles. That would make for an interesting conundrum. Yeah, that’s the spot where former Sooners quarterback Jalen Hurts is the current starter for the 1-0 Eagles.
Hurts had a nice Week 1 in his attempt to solidify his spot as the Eagles starter after a 27 of 35 performance for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He added 7 carries for 62 yards.
No NFL general manager is writing this, but I’d venture to say that if Jalen keeps up anywhere close to this level of production and development as both a passer and decision-maker, and the Eagles remain competitive, they’d be hard pressed to find a need for another quarterback.
And in the case of the Eagles, they can’t keep investing premium draft capital on the QB position. The Wentz era didn’t last. It brought a ring, but quarterback Nick Foles quarterbacked that Super Bowl run.
Hurts was drafted in the second round a few years later. Wentz is no longer an Eagle, and Hurts runs the show. Barring a catastrophic meltdown and an awful showing, Rattler in Philadelphia is a farfetched. Crazier things have happened in the NFL, and this decision and this scenario has so many moving parts that we will have to monitor up until draft night.
It is fun to think about the possibilities of two former Sooner quarterbacks coached by the same man on the same team. Rattler sat behind Hurts once, waiting patiently while Hurts had the keys to the offense. Would that be the case again? However fun the thought may be, it may be equally as unlikely for it to happen.
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