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The Philadelphia Eagles are signing free agent quarterback Christian Hackenberg, according to NFL Network.
The #Eagles are signing QB Christian Hackenberg, source said. Not a reflection on health of Wentz/Foles or anything else — just a chance to try developing another QB with talent, as they have with Nate Sudfeld.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 12, 2018
The team has since officially confirmed the news. In order to make room for Hackenberg on the 90-man roster, the Eagles waived/injured undrafted rookie free agent center Ian Park, who hasn’t practiced for some time now. (We’ll miss you singing the Halo theme song, Ian.)
I’d argue this GIF has never been more appropriate:
Signing Hackenberg is a real head-scratcher. The 2016 second-round pick has been a giant bust in the NFL. His preseason performance against the Eagles as a rookie was legitimately the worst quarterback performance I’ve ever seen in my life. Between Matt McGloin last year and now Hackenberg, I’m not sure why the Eagles find themselves drawn to bad Penn State quarterbacks.
It doesn’t really hurt to give Hackenberg a look ... but I don’t know what the team is really expecting to see. Sure, he’s only 23 years old, so he could theoretically improve in the future. But he’s only going to be able to spend a few weeks in this system before final cuts roll around on September 1.
It seemed like Nate Sudfeld and Joe Callahan were plenty capable of eating up some meaningless preseason game snaps in the next few weeks. It’s not like they needed to add another quarterback for that. But here Hackenberg is anyway.
Weird signing. Maybe the Eagles want to keep him on their practice squad. Seems like a waste to me, though. He’s just so bad.