Chauncey Gardner-Johnson isn’t the only Saints member to leave the Big Easy to join the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Birds also add former New Orleans quarterback Ian Book to their roster. They filed a waiver claim (19th in order) against him after the Saints made their 2021 fourth-round pick on Tuesday.
The appropriate move to clear a spot for Book is currently unclear; Note that the Eagles cannot place a player eligible to return on injured reserve this season. Stay tuned on this front.
While some wonder if the Eagles really need to keep three quarterbacks in their 53-player roster, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that The QB Factory added another passer to the team. They apparently wanted to keep Reid Sinnett behind Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew. That is, until Sinnett really bombed in the preseason games. Howie Roseman traditionally likes to keep three quarterbacks.
Book, 24, played college football at Notre Dame. He ended up being the fighting Irish’s all-time winningest quarterback with a starting record of 30-5. Book completed 63.8% of his attempts for 7.8 yards per attempt, 72 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.
The Saints had to use Book for a start last season after suffering multiple quarterback injuries. He completed 12 of his 20 attempts (60%) in that game for 135 yards (6.8 yards per attempt), zero touchdowns, two interceptions and a 40.6 passer rating in a 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins .
Buch hardly seems the most intriguing development option, but the birds clearly see some value in its potential. With Minshew set to be a free agent after this season, he could theoretically move up to the QB2 job next year. But Book has a lot to prove before anyone can be truly confident that he’s playing meaningful Snaps.
Here’s the book’s scouting draft on Book via NFL.com:
Notre Dame’s most accomplished quarterback brings with it a lot of leadership and overall intangibles. He also has great gaming experience in his background. However, his height and arm strength fall below NFL standards, and there’s nothing in his game he can really hang his hat on that counteracts those issues. He makes receivers work too hard for the catch and was terrible in 2020 throwing the numbers outside the numbers. It is effective on RPO calls. It also does a good job of feeling pocket pressure and sliding around or getting out of the pocket to play games. He’s a capable runner and a plus athlete, but doesn’t have the playing qualities necessary to make a splash in the NFL.
College Highlights:
Spider Diagram via Mockdraftable:
In other Waiver Wire News, the Eagles lost Jack Anderson to the New York Giants and Josh Blackwell to the Chicago Bears.
There are several reasons Anderson makes sense after NYG. The former Bills executive was in Buffalo when Anderson moved in there last year. Former Eagles manager Brandon Brown, who oversaw the Philly pro personnel relocations, likely played a role in the Birds pulling Anderson off of Buffalo’s practice team. Oh, and the Giants’ offensive line isn’t great and could certainly use more help. Good pick up for them, unfortunately. I was one of many beat writers who got Anderson to do the Eagles’ 53-man roster, but they kept Josh Sills instead. They apparently valued Sills’ tackle/guard versatility over Anderson’s center/guard repertoire.
As for Blackwell, that’s interesting. Didn’t even have him on the Eagles practice team. He was picked up (rather than picked up) by the Birds last week when they were reduced to 80 players. The Eagles only temporarily brought him back to eat snaps in the preseason Finals. But, hey, good for Blackwell.