Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie says finding a franchise quarterback is the ‘No. 1 priority’

(USA Today Sports Images)

When Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie sees Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Matt Barkley, he realizes they are good quarterbacks.

Lurie is unsure if any of his passers are franchise quarterbacks.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly did not want to address his team’s need at quarterback this past Thursday, but Lurie was willing to talk about what he wants in the future.

“We need someone to step up, whether it’s an existing young quarterback or somebody we go out and acquire,” Lurie told CSNPhilly.com. “We know -- this is no secret -- quarterback is the [ultimate] position and the most important difference-maker.”

Foles is slated to start against the Oakland Raiders this Sunday. Philadelphia is 1-1 with Foles as a starter this season, and he has thrown for 622 yards and six touchdowns (zero interceptions).

“We want to have very healthy, high ability at that position, with excellent leadership and a lot of smarts and a lot of moxie. Someone that really can take that position and run with it,” Lurie told CSNPhilly.com. “And so Nick is going to have a great opportunity to showcase what he’s done. He’s had some outstanding games and he’s had one poor game.

“Time will tell. I think it’s really wide open for those that are on the team and it’s wide open for what our strategy might be if we don’t have it. But it’s a No. 1 priority. We’ve got to solidify that position in a really good way.”

This definitely means Vick is out of the door after this season.

Vick has been unable to stay healthy since joining the Eagles in 2009. He is currently recovering from a hamstring injury, but if Lurie is not sold on Vick by now, it is unlikely the Eagles will try to re-sign him after this season.

Foles will be given the opportunity to prove he is Philadelphia’s franchise quarterback, but Kelly may want the opportunity to draft or sign an elite quarterback if he does not like what he sees. Considering how Kelly's quarterbacks have struggled this year, it would be hard to blame him for looking elsewhere.

“It’s not rebuilding. It’s about finding key players to take the horns, and one of it is quarterback,” Lurie told CSNPhilly.com. “You can’t win in this league without great quarterback play. We had really good quarterback play when we played Tampa Bay, [with Nick Foles winning] Player of the Week. We need that kind of play at pretty close to that level each and every week.

“The better quarterbacks are real consistent. Rookie quarterbacks are not. Troy Aikman, John Elway, Peyton [Manning]. The only guy I know is Dan Marino, who was great from the get-go. I don’t know anybody who wasn’t like really erratic (as a rookie). So I think you’ve got to just look at it really in an analytic sense. Anyone who thinks that a rookie quarterback, whether it’s Nick or Matt, is going to flow through and be Player of the Week every week is silly.”

Washington (Robert Griffin III), Indianapolis (Andrew Luck), Seattle (Russell Wilson) and Cincinnati (Andy Dalton) may disagree with Lurie’s assessment of rookie quarterbacks.

Of course, those teams have franchise quarterbacks. Lurie is still searching.

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Anwar S Richardson is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at NFLAnwar@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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