Eagles Hint at More Targeted Offseason Development Plan for Jalen Hurts
It was light on specifics but Nick Sirianni dropped an interesting little nugget at the NFL's spring meetings on Tuesday when he noted Jalen Hurts is working with a throwing coach in Southern California.
"He’s working with different people," the Eagles coach told reporters gathered in South Florida. "I’m not going to put his business out there, but he’s working with some different people in Southern California to throw. I’ll let you guys do the digging to find out more about that."
Known for his work ethic away from the facility, Hurts has typically spent his downtime in the past working with Atlanta-based QB mentor Quincy Avery so the shift toward the west coast is an interesting bread crumb that lands at the doorstep of Tom House, Adam Dedeaux, and 3DQB.
House is the former Major League pitcher who spent eight years in the bigs with three different teams in the 1970s and has developed a second career as a teacher of throwing mechanics while expanding his reach from baseball to football with many high-level quarterbacks coveting to work with him and his partners, Dedeaux, John Beck, and Taylor Kelly, in Huntington Beach, CA.
The 3DQB method explains that "every delivery must be properly timed and kinematically sequenced as well as be mechanically sound to be efficient."
The thesis further states that "In football, there are many variables that affect timing, sequencing, and mechanics of the throw, but there are scientific certainties that the body must realize and achieve in order to throw both efficiently and accurately."
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Dedeaux is now the CEO of the company and one former NFL scouting executive said he believed Hurts is likely working closely with the former Los Angles Dodgers hurler.
Dedeaux has already sharpened nearly half of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL so he has become the go-to guy in the league. Beck, meanwhile, is a former NFL quarterback who helps with QB development as well for 3DQB.
"I think Jalen’s trying to synchronize his feet to his vision so he can kickstart the mechanism as he progresses through reads and just tighten up his motion a bit," the exec explained.
Dedeaux may sound familiar to Eagles fans for his work with Carson Wentz before the QB's 2017 run to an MVP-level of play. Injuries and the pandemic limited Wentz's offseason work since and the alarm in failing mechanics has sounded.
Sirianni has noted in the past that he evaluates quarterbacks in four major areas -- accuracy, decision-making, movement skills, and arm strength.
Obviously Hurts checks the off-schedule box with his mobility and Sirianni has noted consistently that his second-year starter reaches the threshold when it comes to arm strength leaving improvement to the first two categories which are also the two most important in the coach's mind.
Enter the more targeted plan for the offseason.
"At this point in time, you’re not supposed to be talking football with your players, but Jalen and I talk all the time, not about football, but different things," Sirianni said.
"Obviously, at the end-of-year meetings that we have, and I’m not even through all the players, but you have a conversation goes a little bit like we talk about he did well, what we need to improve on, where they’re working out. Anything about the organization and how we can make that better. Everything is on the table.
"That’s like that with every player. Obviously, you have a closer conversation with the quarterback because you’re with them all the time. It was no different with Jalen."
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The fact that Hurts bought into the organization's path to improvement while away from the NovaCare Complex is another positive sign for those making the decisions.
"I go back to the type of guys that maximize their football potential, and what are the common denominators of those guys – they have high character, they have high football IQ, they love football, they’re tough and they’re competitive," said Sirianni.
"Jalen is all of those things. So Jalen is working on trying to get every angle he can to get better, whether that’s working with a quarterback guy, or studying film, different ways of doing that. He’s doing everything that he can to get better."
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
