Doug Pederson: Eagles didn't draft Jalen Hurts to 'undermine' Carson Wentz

Time will tell if using a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on quarterback Jalen Hurts will ultimately benefit the Philadelphia Eagles down the road. What's known today, however, is that former Philadelphia starter Carson Wentz lost his job to Hurts and was later traded to the Indianapolis Colts. Doug Pederson was also fired as head coach after a disappointing season. 

Per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, Pederson explained and even defended the Eagles drafting Hurts during a recent appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio. 

"You go into drafts and you go into each year looking for quarterbacks," Pederson said. "And we continued to look for quarterbacks, and that’s always something that will never change. We won a Super Bowl with our backup quarterback. And we’ve had to play with our backups a couple of times in Philadelphia. So we did that a year ago and brought in Jalen Hurts — not to undermine Carson Wentz, not to do anything to take away his job or anything because Carson was our starter. He was the franchise and all that moving forward. But [we wanted] someone that could come in and could be the backup and learn how to play the NFL game — bring his talent to the Philadelphia Eagles."

Back in May, Indianapolis head coach Frank Reich told reporters Philadelphia drafting Hurts did not send Wentz "in a tailspin" last fall. While Wentz is Indy's QB1 heading into training camp, Hurts is set to compete with veteran and Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player Joe Flacco for Philadelphia's starting gig.