Sirianni explains why the Eagles claimed QB Ian Book

[time2rock]

Sirianni explains why the Eagles claimed QB Ian Book

 

The Eagles went through all of training camp with Reid Sinnett as their third-string quarterback but then waived him at final cuts and claimed Ian Book from the Saints.

Now, Book is the third-stringer behind Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew and Sinnett is on the practice squad.

Why did the Eagles claim Book?

Nick Sirianni trusted Tommy Rees.

Rees, the 30-year-old Notre Dame offensive coordinator, spent the 2016 season with the San Diego Chargers as an offensive assistant. That was right in the middle of Sirianni’s five-year run with the Bolts.

In 2016, Sirianni was the Chargers’ receivers coach and Rees served as his assistant receivers coach.

"I really trust Tommy's opinion,” Sirianni said. "And obviously we trust our own eyes, we trust our own scouts, but a lot of work went into that.

"One thing Tommy always said about him, and now this is a guy that won a ton of football games for him and his program at Notre Dame, is how good of a leader he is. How there would be weeks or days that went by that the ball didn't touch the ground because of how accurate he is. So, we're excited to work with the tools that he has. We know he'll fit in well with the room and fit in well with the locker room.”

During his career at Notre Dame, Book completed 63.8% of his passes for nearly 9,000 yards with 72 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He also won more games than any other quarterback in Fighting Irish history.

Book, 24, was a fourth-round pick (No. 133) by the Saints last season. He started one game as a rookie and it didn’t go well.

But Sirianni has kept his eye on Book.

"We did a lot of work on him in the pre-draft process, obviously,” Sirianni said. "Naturally when you don't get a guy sometimes that you might want, there's a little bit of, like, ‘Oh, man, I kind of wanted him; oh, shoot, they took him,’ or whatever it is. But you do the work in preparation of a day when you have an opportunity to potentially get him.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/why-nick-sirianni-eagles-claimed-qb-ian-book