EYE am, EYE said…to no one there…now it’s the Eagles who may end up playing to empty chairs…

“My heart sunk when I got the news about Brandon’s injury,” coach Pederson said. “This guy has worked extremely hard to get himself back, back in shape, back in playing shape, to have a solid 2020 season. Obviously, we feel for him having to go through this again but we know that he’ll push through and he’s done a great job with all of this rehab and getting himself back, so we’re very confident there.

“As far as the plan moving forward, at this point we’re still looking at a lot of options, starting with our own roster and the guys that we have to compete for those backup spots and possibly starting spots. We obviously haven’t made any decisions. We’re going to take a look at a lot of different scenarios, different possibilities. We’ve got some time before Training Camp to try to sort these things out. At this time, we’re just feeling for Brandon and making sure everything goes smoothly for him and getting him back on track for the future.”

Er, training camp is not exactly a foregone conclusion either. Right now the plan is to have isolated workouts at the Linc. Limited media, no fans in the seats…

And that’s subject to any further spikes in roster infections. The prospect of a shortened season played in empty stadia is still very much a possibility.

Our old buddy Dave Stoessel at Eagles Addict hasn’t made a new post since April 29, which was right about the time he and we all realized this COVID thing had legs.

But his last known post was a good one. Here are the highlights:

“Everyone from fans to beat writers to sports radio talk show hosts are killing Howie Roseman and the Eagles for taking Jalen Hurts in Round 2 of the 2020 NFL Draft.

“Hell, at first I was killing them too. When they announced the pick, my reaction was the same as most folks around here…I was dumbfounded, to say the least.

“Why on earth would they “waste” a valuable pick on a backup QB? Especially when Denzel Mims, A.J. Epenesa or even Logan Wilson were all right there for the taking and would have been far more logical and likely to return Year 1 dividends.

“Why would they use a Round 2 pick on a guy where the best case scenario is that he never plays? Seems like a huge waste of a valuable resource.

“It was an insane pick!

But, was it?

“After allowing all of this to sink in, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is truly the same thing as buying an insurance policy (for the record, I thought this before Roseman actually said it during one of his talk radio damage control interviews).

“Nobody likes buying insurance policies where you are paying money for something you hope you never have to use…such as a term life insurance policy.

“Like lawyers, people generally hate insurance policies until you need them, right?

“Well, in regards to the QB position for the Eagles, they have needed to use that insurance policy for 3 straight years. As such, the premium has gone up.

“However, instead of paying extra cash, they preferred to pay the extra premium by way of draft capital. Good insurance is more expensive, right?

“You can get cheaper insurance because you have to have something. But, what good is it if it doesn’t do much for you when you need it? Hurts is obviously unproven yet, but the perception at this point is that he is on the level of “good insurance” and not some crappy bottom of the barrel plan.

“He’s more like having comprehensive coverage on your Rolls Royce vs. simple liability coverage.

“Furthermore, drafting Hurts in no way means that the Eagles don’t like Wentz anymore or think they made a mistake by paying him or whatever other crazy stupid reason that’s been floated out there about how this must signify their feelings towards Wentz in some negative way.

“The only negative thing drafting Hurts tells us is that the team has some level of concern about Wentz’ ability to stay healthy. And how can you blame them, unfortunately?

“But, that’s it. Plain and simple. If Wentz stays healthy, Hurts doesn’t play much. If this happens, people will ultimately look back on this pick and justify their “WTF!!” opinion on it.

“Chances are high, though, that Hurts will see some full game action over the course of the next 3 seasons. As much as I love Wentz, his ability to start and finish a season is in question.

“Combine that with a team that places a higher value on backup QBs and, Voila!, Hurts is an Eagle.

Yeah, yeah, but why not just bring in a capable veteran backup?

“That’s a good point. But, that veteran will also cost more (i.e., eat up more Cap space) and will have no chance of giving the Eagles a return on investment of their draft capital.

“That’s right, part of this is that Howie and the Eagles are hoping that if things break right, they could end up flipping Hurts after 2-3 years for more than they paid for him.

“Invest a 2nd round pick now, let the QB factory do its work and get more in return later!

“People will be tracking how this whole thing plays out. They’ll be watching how the other draft prospects the Eagles could/should have taken are panning out along with how Hurts himself pans out.

“There is also the possibility that this could all lead to the dreaded QB controversy at some point. Having a distraction like that is one of the worst things for a football team.

“The best case scenario is something that will play out over the next 3 seasons combined. In this scenario, Wentz plays great and continues to solidify himself as “the guy” and a top QB in the NFL.

“Hurts gets random opportunities to play, whether it be by way of 4th-quarter clean-up duty, end of season starts because the Eagles locked up their playoff seed, or if Wentz misses a handful of games over the next 3 years for miscellaneous minor issues.

“In these cases, Hurts plays well and shows “promise”, but nobody questions the fact that this is Carson’s team. Then after year 3, Howie trades Hurts for a first round pick (or more).

“At the end of the day, if Wentz plays like we expect and stays healthy, the only debate that will rage on is whether the pick of Hurts was truly worth it when we could have had Player X instead.

“However, if Wentz suffers more injuries and Hurts comes in and keeps the train rolling, we’ll be glad the Eagles took out this insurance policy.”