Nick Sirianni, Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees Relationship Leads to Ian Book

The Eagles wanted Kellen Mond, but Nick Sirianni seems pleased with getting Ian Book, who comes highly recommended from his friend with the Fighting Irish

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles had Carson Strong, then released him and decided not to bring him back.

They then wanted Kellen Mond.

They wound up with Ian Book.

In the grand scheme of things, how much does it really matter?

It’s a third-string quarterback, and if the Eagles need to play him, they are in deep trouble.

Here’s where it might matter, though.

Gardner Minshew is the backup, and he is in the last year of his contract. The Eagles are going to need a capable backup in 2023.

Heck, if Book develops quickly enough and the Eagles like what they see, who knows?

Maybe there’s a team that wants a quarterback at the trade deadline, perhaps a quarterback they might want to sign to an extension of some kind and let him finish out the 2022 season and go into 2023 to compete to be a starter, well, maybe Minshew gets traded.

It’s a long shot, but who thought Jalen Reagor would be traded to the Vikings, where he will team with the receiver he will forever be linked to, at least in Philadelphia, Justin Jefferson?

Or that J.J. Arcega-Whiteside would be peddled to the Seattle Seahawks, where the player the Eagles could have had, D.K. Metcalf, went eight spots after the Eagles swung and missed on JJAW?

Strange things happen.

Perhaps it may be strange to think Book can be the eventual No. 2, but maybe.

It won’t be Mond, the former third-round pick of the Vikings who was released earlier in the week. The Eagles put a claim in for him but the Browns were higher in the waiver claim order and got him.

So, they got Book, the former Notre Dame standout whom the Saints took in the fourth round of the 2021 draft.

“We did a lot of work on him in the pre-draft process, obviously,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “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. We did a lot of work on him. We liked him in the pre-draft process.”

Sirianni said that he was well-versed on Book due to his relationship with Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, who was Sirianni assistant receiver coach when Sirianni was in San Diego with the Chargers.

“I really trust Tommy's opinion, and obviously we trust our own eyes, we trust our own scouts, but a lot of work went into that,” said the Eagles coach. “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.”

Book played one game in New Orleans last year, completing 12 of 20 passes for 135 yards but two interceptions.

As for Strong, Sirianni said on Thursday, that some tough decisions had to be made when it came to parsing out reps during camp, especially when Reid Sinnett really did well with his reps.

“Reid was having a really nice camp and the reps went that way," said Sirianni. "That's just basically what happened. with the way Reid was having his practices, he earned more reps, and that's why he played more in the preseason.”

Sinnett was brought back to the practice squad.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.