Stephen Morris Is An Excellent Project Quarterback For Philadelphia Eagles

It took the month of August for the Philadelphia Eagles to finally realize the truth: neither Matt Barkley nor Tim Tebow were going to hack it in the NFL. It was assumed for a while one would win the third spot on the roster. But as time went on, Barkley simply flamed out and Tebow didn’t flame enough to earn anything. So both were cut and now the third job belongs to an undrafted rookie named Stephen Morris. Once you get past the undrafted part, Morris is an excellent prospect and one the Eagles desperately needed.

The beauty of Morris is that he’s got the natural tools that Barkley and Tebow didn’t have.  Morris is faster than both of them, has a stronger arm, and flashed better accuracy and decision making.  Sounds like he should have been a high draft pick, right?  Well, you have to consider the fact that in Morris’ time in college almost everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.  Morris had to learn three new offensive systems in as many years, and his senior year was marked with injuries and constant adjustments to new offensive philosophies. Raw talent doesn’t overcome change like that, and neither do stats. The lack of consistency and the suffering numbers killed Morris’ stats, and significantly altered his path to the pros.

The Eagles are getting pretty good value in Morris, and he’s exactly what the team needs: young upside. The Eagles desperately needed a young quarterback in the pipeline with developable potential, someone who could eventually develop into a quality backup.  Morris is going to need that time too, because for all of his gifts he’s not a slam-dunk prospect you can plug and play without worry. He’s going to have to really marinate in the system before he can be counted on for anything. With Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez in front of him, he’ll have all the time in the world.

I suppose the Eagles thought they were getting that potential with the bonus of veteran experience with Barkley and Tebow. In hindsight it made sense at the time, because you had to figure one of the two would emerge. I was always hoping that player was going to come from the draft, and in a very roundabout way that’s exactly what wound up happening. Having to start from scratch with a new player this close to the season wasn’t what the Eagles had in mind, but in the grand scheme of things I think Morris is exactly what they needed. Here’s hoping he comes along quicker than Barkley and Tebow did.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.