No Turning Back Now on Jalen Hurts - He's Earned the Job
Summer’s biggest question has been answered: Jalen Hurts will be the Eagles’ quarterback of the future.
At least for 2022.
The Eagles can’t turn back now. They cannot turn their backs on a quarterback who has helped lead them to a most improbable playoff berth.
There are plenty of reasons the Eagles made the postseason in what was supposed to be a transition season.
Veteran leadership is probably the biggest reason of all, with been-there, done-that leaders like Jason Kelce, Rodney McLeod, and Fletcher Cox. They, along with Lane Johnson and Derek Barnett, are the leftover remnants of a Super Bowl championship.
Nick Sirianni and his staff deserve a heaping spoonful of credit, too, staring down the adversity of a 2-5 start and never blinking. Even though the second half of the schedule was stuffed with winnable games, there are no guarantees of victory, and the Eagles went out and won them.
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Then there’s Hurts.
He was under the microscope heading into the season, with reports of a Deshaun Watson to the Eagles trade swirling throughout August, and, like Sirianni at 2-5, Hurts never blinked. He simply worked every day to get better, and he’s not done getting better.
He isn't close to his ceiling, yet.
Hurts will return to the same offense for the first time in the last six years when he had a different coach or offensive coordinator in three years at Alabama, a year at Oklahoma, and a year with Doug Pederson then Sirianni.
There is no doubt that Sirianni changing midstream from putting too much on Hurts’ plate in the early part of the season to becoming a more run-based offense has helped Hurts. But the QB’s ability to be a treat in the run game buys him time to develop as a passer.
He is the youngest quarterback to take his team into the playoffs, per the usual stellar research from NBC Sports Philly’s Reuben Frank, who tweeted that Hurts will be the youngest QB in team history to start a playoff game at the age of 23 years, 148 days old. Donovan McNabb had been the youngest at 24 years, 36 days when he started his first postseason game.
Hurts never shows much emotion other than when he is in the moment of a game or in the immediate aftermath, usually while walking off the field following a win. He is the same low-key, chill player in his news conferences, maybe in the locker room at practice, too.
“He’s tough,” said RT Lane Johnson following Sunday’s 20-16 win over Washington. “He’s tough-minded. I still never seen him happy a whole lot as far as enthusiastic, I guess. He takes the game very seriously. Win or lose, he’s always the same as far as the mentality as a quarterback in this league because you’re going to take a lot of heat for the wins.
"You’re going to take a lot of heat for the losses. Just the nature of the game. But what he’s done this year, how he’s persevered, battled through some injuries, and being the leader he is, so shoutout to Jalen Hurts.”
When a railing collapsed while Hurts was walking toward the locker room tunnel at rundown FedEx Field after the win, Hurts never flinched even though it almost hit him. He calmly helped fans to their feet then put his arms around them, smiling for selfies.
Then he was back to his old self in the news conference minutes later.
Asked by SI.com Eagle Maven if he is enjoying a turnaround from 2-5 to 9-7 and why he doesn’t show much emotion, Hurt said: “I’ve always had the approach of enjoying it when it’s done. I’ll let everybody else reflect on how far we’ve come as a football team.
"I’ll let you guys talk about that. I’ll prepare myself for these questions as they continue to come in. But for me, the job isn’t done for us. It’s not done. We’re not done yet.”
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When the sky was falling and the Eagles were limping yet again at the start of the game, falling behind 16-7 at halftime, Sirianni singled out Hurts for showing calm on the sideline.
The coach also reminded everyone that the QB is still playing with an ailing left ankle from a sprain suffered on Nov. 28 yet Hurts came to him during the game and said don’t take anything off the play-calling table because of his ankle.
“Obviously the whole game was tight, so tight part of this game, he looked at me and said, whatever, you gotta call, call and I’ll make it work.," Sirianni said. "What he was saying to me was run, pass, quarterback, run, quarterback read. Whatever you call, I know how much this game means to our team, I’ll make it work. And that, gosh, the calmness, the confidence, that installs calmness and confidence in everybody.
“And so again, I can’t say enough for him as a leader, can’t say enough for him as a competitor, can’t say enough about his toughness. I hope everyone knows when I give a player the compliment of being a tough player from me, that’s the best compliment that I can give.”
Hurts is the QB of the future, even if it’s just 2002.
The Eagles simply cannot turn their back on him this offseason.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
