The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to terms with quarterback Nate Sudfeld on a one-year deal.
Indiana’s all-time passing yards leader was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.
Sudfeld appears to be on-track to serve as the backup to starter Carson Wentz, and that is a role his head coach in Philadelphia said he felt good about for the former IU star.
“We’re very comfortable with Nate,” Head Coach Doug Pederson said at the NFL Scouting Combine last month. “He’s put himself in position to compete and possibly be the No. 2.”
Sudfeld served as the No. 3 quarterback last season behind Wentz and Josh McCown.
McCown is recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in the Eagles’ season-ending loss to Seattle and is set to be a free agent.
A former sixth-round draft choice of Washington in 2016, Sudfeld was claimed off waivers by the Eagles at the start of the 2017 regular season.
Sudfeld served as the primary backup in Philadelphia during their 2018 Super Bowl run. He set what was at the time the Eagles record for highest completion percentage (82.6 percent) in an NFL debut in the regular-season finale against Dallas. Sudfeld threw his first touchdown pass in the 2018 regular-season finale against the Redskins.
The 6-6, 227-pound Sudfeld was set to be the primary backup to start the season for the first time in 2019. However, Sudfeld suffered a fractured wrist in the preseason opener, and the Eagles turned to the veteran McCown. Sudfeld returned for Week 3 of the regular season. He was active for five games this season but did not get any snaps on offense.
At 7,879 yards, Sudfeld is Indiana’s all-time leader in passing yards by more than 400 yards. Were it not for a 2014 injury, that margin would have been well into the thousands. He’s not only the all-time yardage leader, but he got there despite having fewer attempts than the next two quarterbacks on the list.
The California native had a better than 60% completion percentage every year, and a career percentage of 60.3%.
Sudfeld didn’t just move the team down the field either — he got the Hoosiers in the end zone as reflected by his all-time passing touchdowns record of 61, or 13 more than the next guy on the list.
Quite simply, Sudfeld led the most prolific offense in the history of Indiana football, and it was one of the best offenses in college football at the time. Indiana ranked 9th and 14th in the country in total offense in 2013 and 2015, Sudfeld’s two primary seasons leading the team without injury.
With a better defense, Sudfeld’s Hoosier teams would have been a legitimate threat to win eight or nine games. But Sudfeld did win ball games despite the defense, leading IU to its first bowl game in eight years in 2015. That might have also been accomplished a year earlier as well had he not been lost to injury midway through the 2014 season.
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