Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has hinted at a gadget role for second-round draft pick Jalen Hurts.
The Oklahoma quarterback became the No 53 overall pick on Friday as the Eagles sought support for starter Carson Wentz, who has battled knee, back and head injuries over the last three seasons.
Pederson hailed Hurts' dual-threat qualities in a conference call with reporters, suggesting the team could look to utilise him in tandem with Wentz in the way the New Orleans Saints have with Drew Brees and Taysom Hill, and the Baltimore Ravens did previously with Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson.
"He has a unique skill set," Pederson said of Hurts. "You see what Taysom Hill has done in New Orleans. It's something we want to explore.
"He's a great runner. he throws well on the run. He has a unique set of skills we're going to take a look at."
Eagles general manager Howie Rosman told reporters: "For better or for worse, we are quarterback developers. We want to be a quarterback factory. We have the right people in place to do that. No team has benefited more from developing quarterbacks than the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Earlier today, I spoke to Carson about the options at this pick, and one of them was Jalen, so he had a heads-up ahead of time. We're sitting here at the end of the second round and the way our board was, we just felt this way the right thing to do."
Hurts transferred to Oklahoma for his senior year after three impressive seasons at Alabama. He finished a distant runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting last year, behind LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, after completing 69.7 per cent of his passes for 3,851 yards with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The Sooners went 12-2 last season and lost to LSU in the College Football Playoff semi-final.
As a freshman at Alabama in 2016, Hurts led the Crimson Tide to a 14-1 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff championship game, won 35-31 by Clemson in the final second.
The following year, Hurts guided Alabama to a 12-1 mark and another berth in the national-title game. However, with the Crimson Tide trailing Clemson 13-0 at halftime, coach Nick Saban subbed in then-freshman Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, and Alabama rallied for a 26-23 overtime win.
Hurts remained at Alabama as a backup in the 2018 season before transferring to Oklahoma for his final year of college ball.
In three seasons with the Crimson Tide, Hurts completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 5,626 yards with 48 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Wentz's back-up last season with the Eagles was Josh McCown, who is currently a free agent at age 40. McCown took over when Wentz got hurt early in his postseason debut against the Seattle Seahawks, and the veteran reserve completed 18 of 24 passes for 174 yards in Philadelphia's 17-9 loss.
Wentz was one of four for three yards in that game before exiting due to a head injury following a helmet-to-helmet hit. He had just appeared in all 16 regular-season games for the first time since his rookie year of 2016.
Philadelphia's third-string quarterback last year was Nate Sudfeld.