Eagles might have their Taysom Hill — or for the dreamers, an eventual Jalen Hurts replacement

The Philadelphia Eagles already had what looked to be a set quarterback room before the 2026 NFL Draft.

Jalen Hurts, Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton made up the depth chart, making QB seem like a spot the Eagles wouldn't consider in the draft.

And then in the fifth round, the Eagles drafted Cole Payton, the athletic lefty quarterback out of North Dakota State.

All of a sudden, questions abound in Philly.

Sure, Payton isn't close to being an NFL starting QB at the moment. But he has made things quite crowded.

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Cole Payton rookie role

As a rookie, Payton's best chance of seeing the field is to turn into a multi-purpose threat like Taysom Hill has been for the New Orleans Saints.

"He has drawn some Taysom Hill comparisons and in theory could be deployed in short-yardage situations (tush push?) or as part of a play-design wrinkle to keep defenses off-balance," ESPN's Tim McManus wrote as part of a new article on Thursday. "That's Payton's quickest route to playing."

The Eagles have been comfortable with Jalen Hurts doing the tush push, but maybe using Payton would help protect Hurts just a bit.

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What about Jalen Hurts' future?

Any time a new QB shows up, there's at least a bit of a sideways glance from the starter.

Payton isn't close to taking Hurts' job at the moment. Could he grow into that? 

It's a long shot, but not impossible.

"Even though he started only one season in college, Payton is a true dual-threat passer who has plenty of intriguing tools," ESPN's Jordan Reid writes. "He's an excellent deep thrower but needs to develop more consistency on short-to-intermediate throws. The Eagles have done well with passers with similar skill sets in the past (see: Jalen Hurts) and Payton is a versatile passer who can be used in the designed QB run game."

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Writing off a Super Bowl champion quarterback like Hurts makes no sense.

But Eagles GM Howie Roseman is always thinking about the future, and he didn't draft Payton without believing that there's at least an unlikely but real scenario where the lefty matters a lot down the road.

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