When news broke that Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles were trading Kenny Pickett to the Cleveland Browns for a fifth-round pick, it was generally well-received by fans.
Sure, Pickett did some good things for the Eagles in his lone season with the team, including beating the Dallas Cowboys at the end of the regular season, but no one thought he'd be around forever. Basically, getting back what the team paid for Pickett felt like a good return for the former Pitt product, especially since he was never going to be a long-term player in Philadelphia, considering the presence of Jalen Hurts.
And yet, the deal in question wasn't just a pick-for-player swap but instead a flip of backup quarterbacks, with the Eagles also getting back Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the deal, too.
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Now, as fans of the Eagles may recall, Roseman and company really liked DTR coming out of UCLA, bringing him in for a top-30 visit despite being widely considered a Day 3 prospect. Despite his just good college production, DTR played for UCLA under Chip Kelly and had a similar athletic profile to Hurts, making him a low-cost backup quarterback option the likes of which current backup Tanner McKee doesn't quite match.
And yet, in Cleveland, Thompson-Robinson was bad. How bad? Well, he actually recorded one of the worst seasons in NFL history last year, with his YPA the lowest in NFL history over a single season with a minimum of 170 throws. DTR threw an astounding one touchdown vs. ten picks during his NFL career, completed just 52.5 percent of his passes, and finished out his Cleveland run with a YPA of 3.8, which is frankly impressive in the worst possible way.
Now granted, DTR did start off his NFL season in Cleveland, where his supporting cast wasn't great, even if his head coach, Kevin Stefanski, is one of the better in the NFL. Maybe he will end up being a solid enough QB3 if Hurts and McKee are unable to go for one reason or another, or maybe the Eagles will release him and bank the salary cap, which they now have the option to do. Either way, the Eagles just traded for one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL by choice and will either try to fix that or say goodbye to the UCLA product later this year.