The Philadelphia Eagles traded the Pittsburgh Steelers for quarterback Kenny Pickett during the first week of NFL free agency, giving themselves a better insurance policy behind starter Jalen Hurts.

Along with Pickett, Philly obtained a 2024 fourth-round pick (No. 120 overall) and traded the Steelers their 2024 third-round compensatory pick (No. 98 overall) and two 2025 seventh-round picks in return.

While absolutely nobody was afraid that Pickett would be going to Philadelphia to take over the starting job, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman felt the need to emphasize that Hurts is their franchise QB.

“Jalen is our franchise quarterback,” Roseman told reporters on Monday during the NFL’s annual league meetings, per nj.com’s Chris Franklin. “I don’t think that there is anything that affects Jalen in terms of who we bring in at the quarterback position.

We have incredible faith and trust in him, and we communicate with him about whatever we’re doing, just like we like to do with a number of our players to provide a heads-up so he can welcome them to the team.”

Unless Hurts is hurt in 2024, then there’s virtually no chance that Pickett will see any action in 2024.  But he is an upgrade over Marcus Mariota, who exited in free agency, and the Eagles’ 2023 sixth-round pick out of Stanford, Tanner McKee.

“Kenny’s a talented guy, which, obviously, like all quarterbacks, including the ones in this draft, we do work on because you never know when you have the opportunity to get those guys and to continue to build depth throughout our roster with talented guys at maybe the most important position in sports,” Roseman said. “We felt like it made sense

se.”