Eagles add North Dakota State quarterback Cole Payton in fifth round
Philadelphia kept the NDSU pipeline moving, grabbing Cole Payton at No. 178 and betting on a dual-threat quarterback whose numbers made the leap look real.
The Eagles kept going back to North Dakota State for the same reason NFL teams keep a short list of trusted programs: the production usually holds up. With the No. 178 pick in the fifth round, Philadelphia took Cole Payton and added another Bison quarterback to the franchise tree, a selection that says as much about the Eagles’ evaluation habits as it does about Payton’s upside.
Payton arrived in Philadelphia with a clean Day 3 case. In 2025, he threw for 2,719 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding 777 rushing yards and 13 more scores on the ground. At 6-foot-2 and 232 pounds, the left-hander brought the kind of size, mobility and efficiency that let a team imagine more than just a backup role down the line. Nick Sirianni pointed to those traits as part of the appeal, and the Eagles treated him like a developmental quarterback worth a fifth-round investment, not a novelty pick.
That matters because Philadelphia has history with this exact school. The Eagles drafted Carson Wentz from North Dakota State at No. 2 overall in 2016, and Wentz became the first quarterback Philadelphia took in the first round since Donovan McNabb in 1999. Payton also spoke in his April 25 press conference about how coming from Wentz’s alma mater and what he did in 2025 helped shape his draft stock. That is the pipeline in plain view: one player sets the precedent, and the next one gets measured against it.
Payton’s résumé made the bet easier to justify. North Dakota State listed him as a 2026 NFL Scouting Combine participant and a 2026 Panini Senior Bowl invitee. He finished third in the Walter Payton Award race, was a first-team Stats Perform FCS All-American, and earned second-team Associated Press FCS All-America honors along with honorable mention as an all-purpose player. The Eagles’ draft-central page also tagged him as a second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection.
The production came against real stakes. North Dakota State finished 12-1, went 8-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and lost 29-28 to Illinois State in the FCS quarterfinals on Dec. 6, 2025, in Fargo, North Dakota. Payton was the engine of that season, and his 380-yard, four-touchdown day against South Dakota State underscored why evaluators kept moving him up.
This was also another win for the Bison brand. Payton became the fifth North Dakota State quarterback drafted since 2016, joining Wentz, Easton Stick, Trey Lance and Cam Miller, while Bryce Lance also went 136th overall to the New Orleans Saints in the same draft. Four times in six years, the Bison had multiple players selected. That is not coincidence anymore. It is a repeatable trust model, and with Payton, Philadelphia leaned into it again.
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