How Have Philaldephia Eagles Helped Jalen Hurts?

The Philadelphia Eagles made several moves so far in the offseason designed to help quarterback Jalen Hurts

NFC Wild Card Playoffs - Philadelphia Eagles v Tampa Bay Buccaneers / Mike Ehrmann/GettyImages

PHILADELPHIA – For everything good that Jalen Hurts did last year, it was offset by something bad.

Thirty-eight combined touchdowns. Very good.

Fifteen interceptions. Not very good.

A completion percentage of 65.4. Good.

Five lost fumbles. Not good.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback went into the offseason looking to improve. That’s no different than any offseason he has had since being drafted in the second round back in 2020.

One area that some believe he needs to improve is his leadership. He is too quiet, some say, and too aloof on the bench when the defense is on the field.

“Here's what I know about Jalen, whatever we see that he needs to work on or he sees that he needs to work on, he's going to get better at that because he puts everything he has into it, and that's a form of leadership too,” said head coach Nick Sirianni.

“Like Jalen sees something that he feels is a weakness of his or we feel like is a weakness of his, he's going to dive everything that he has and pour everything that he has into it to get better from that. Like that's leadership. That's a form of leadership.”

Hurts will do his work. What work did the Eagles do to help him?

Here’s a look:

Coaches. The pairing of Sirianni and Brian Johnson took the QB as far as they could. Now Siranni will pair with Kellen Moore to see if they can elevate Hurts back to the MVP-level play he achieved two years ago.

Moore wasn’t the only coach brought in to work closely with Hurts.

The Eagles swapped out Alex Tanney as the quarterback coach for Doug Nussmeier. Moore and Nussmeier have been together since 2018, going from the Dallas Cowboys, where they spent five years, to the Los Angeles Chargers last year.

Can that duo get more from Hurts?

Free agents. The Eagles bolstered the running game by adding three-down back Saquon Barkley and a pair of receivers in DeVante Parker and Parris Campbell.

The Barkley signing should help take some of the running pressure off Hurts ad give him an outlet in the passing game. Of course, the same was said about D’Andre Swift last year, and that didn’t work out.

Barkley is better than Swift, so we’ll see.

We’ll also see what Parker and Campbell can offer on one-year deals.

Parker is 31 and maybe a reduced role behind A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith will keep him fresh. He is known for winning 5050 balls more often than not, and he likes that Hurts has the ability to throw that kind of ball.

“His ball placement,” said Parker after singing his contract. “He puts the ball where it needs to be and where a receiver can go up and get it.”

Campbell is 26 and had mostly mediocre four years with the Indianapolis Colts and last year with the New York Giants played just 12 games and made just 20 catches for 104 yards.

Expect the Eagles to take another receiver somewhere along the way in the draft.

Offensive line. Losing Jason Kelce to retirement won’t help. Cam Jurgens is the favorite to replace the future Hall of Fame center and he should be OK, but he’s not Kelce. There will be an adjustment period.

The Eagles also lost top reserves Jack Driscoll and Sua Opeta, opening the door for the Eagles to possibly take an offensive lineman in the first round of the draft.

With Jurgens likely moving from right guard to center, who plays right guard?

Tyler Steen?

An unknown-as-of-now draft pick?

Matt Hennessy, a third-round pick four years ago of the Atlanta Falcons out of Temple, who signed a one-year deal in free agency?

It’s going to look different, and we’ll see how much the shuffling impacts Hurts.