The Eagles have found their third quarterback and claim to have Notre Dame product Ian Book, who was fired by the Saints at Final Cuts.
After Tuesday’s deadline, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said the Eagles would “certainly” have a third quarterback behind Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew on the active roster or practice team.
By claiming Book, they have three on their 53-man roster.
During the summer, the Eagles worked with Reid Sinnett as a third-string quarterback, but Sinnett really struggled in the preseason and played his way out of a roster spot. They also had UDFA Carson Strong from Nevada, but Strong barely got practice reps or snaps in games.
The Eagles, on the other hand, had two of their cuts claimed by other teams: OL Jack Anderson was claimed by the Giants and Josh Blackwell was claimed by the Bears.
In order to make way for Book, the Eagles must make an appropriate move. You can’t just put a player on IR.
Book, 24, was drafted by the Saints in the fourth round in 2021 (pick 133 overall). He ended up playing in one game as a rookie. Book (6-0, 206) started for the Saints in Week 15 against the Dolphins. In that game, he completed 12 of 20 passes for 135 yards and 2 interceptions in a 20-3 loss.
During his collegiate career at Notre Dame, Book completed 63.8% of his passes for nearly 9,000 yards with 72 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He was a three-year starter for the Fighting Irish.
Here’s what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote about Book during the 2021 pre-draft process:
“Notre Dame’s most successful quarterback brings 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 he doesn’t have the playing qualities to make a splash in the NFL.”
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