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Lost in the all the Marcus Mariota hype is the fact that there's another Pac-12 quarterback the Philadelphia Eagles could be targeting in the 2015 NFL Draft: UCLA's Brett Hundley. Rumors emerged in late January that "the Eagles are hot for Hundley." When you consider that Chip Kelly recruited Hundley to Oregon in college, this makes sense.
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It also seems like the interest could be mutual. Meeting with the media on Thursday, Hundley was asked about which NFL offenses are similar to the one he ran at UCLA. "Well, I guess, the Eagles," said the 21-year-old redshirt junior. Jimmy Kempski notes that Hundley 'cited "zone reads" and "pass concepts that match up like ours" as the similarities.' Hundley confirmed he met with Eagles quarterback coach Ryan Day at the combine.
Hundley also talked about how he "loves [Chip Kelly] to death." Then he went on to mention how he grew up a Donovan McNabb fan and keeps in touch with him during this draft process. Then he ripped off his jacket to reveal that he was wearing an Eagles jersey. OK, that didn't really happen.
But perhaps Hundley could be donning an Eagles jersey one day. He was a productive player in college. The 6-3 redshirt junior finished his UCLA career with 67.4% of his passes completed for 9966 yards, 75 touchdowns, and 25 interceptions in 40 games played. He also rushed for 30 scores on 1747 yards.
Hundley is far from a polished product, however. Mike Mayock said he sees the UCLA passer as a second round talent, but he "has a long way to go to become [a] pocket quarterback."
If the Eagles can't land Marcus Mariota, which is likely, perhaps Hundley could be an intriguing option for them. The Eagles could still enter 2015 with Nick Foles as the starter while they allow time for Hundley to develop.