Wednesday, the Philadelphia Eagles joined the Los Angeles Rams and became the second team in the last week to ship out a pile of current and future draft picks in order to move up to the top two picks, presumably to get one of the top quarterbacks in this year's class. California's Jared Goff and North Dakota State's Carson Wentz are considered to be the cream of the crop this year, and neither has emerged as the consensus top choice.
In order to get the number one pick away from the Tennessee Titans, the Rams had to give up picks 15, 43, 45 and 76 in this year's draft in addition to their first and third-round picks in 2017. They also received Tennessee's fourth and sixth-round picks this season. The Eagles gave Cleveland an equally massive haul for the second pick in next week's draft, surrendering the eighth overall pick, their third and fourth-round selections this year and their first and fourth-round picks in 2017.
Both of these trades strike comparisons with the Washington Redskins' move in 2012 to use the second pick to acquire Robert Griffin III. The Skins gave up three first-round picks and a second-round pick, which, through trades, the Rams turned into nine draft picks, including Janoris Jenkins, Greg Robinson and Michael Brockers. Considering the fact that Griffin is no longer with the Redskins, the Rams clearly got the better end of the deal, which may foreshadow the eventual results of the trades made this April.
While Goff and Wentz have plenty of potential, they are far from being can't-miss prospects. Wentz comes from an FCS school, which leads scouts to question how he will perform against elite competition. Goff, on the other hand, took the vast majority of his snaps from the pistol or the shotgun, meaning he will have to take time to perfect his footwork to run a pro-style offense. Also, Goff fumbled the ball 23 times in his three years as a Bear, while getting sacked 81 times, making people question his pocket awareness.
Not only are there potential red flags with the top two quarterbacks, but this class is relatively deep as well. Ohio State's Cardale Jones led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2015, but he isn't even considered to be one of the best five quarterbacks available this year. Memphis' Paxton Lynch has elite size, arm strength and athleticism, but he is greatly overshadowed by Wentz and Goff. Connor Cook, Christian Hackenberg and Dak Prescott are a few others who have late-round value, not to mention national champion Jake Coker, who may not even hear his name called next weekend.
It is absolutely possible that Wentz or Goff becomes the next big thing in the NFL, but it seems equally possible that one or both of them draw comparisons to JaMarcus Russell or Ryan Leaf in a few years. The Eagles and Rams are desperate for signal-callers so they can compete, but without a Cam Newton or Andrew Luck at the top of the draft board, and plenty of depth in the later rounds, these trades don't seem to make sense.