Howie Roseman sounds off on Jalen Hurts reports, admits Eagles do have 'some faults' about messaging to players

Roseman says it's 'unfair' to have those articles written

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Jalen Hurts hasn't gone unscathed regarding to hearing his name in the news this offseason.

The Philadelphia Eagles franchise quarterback was at the center of reports the involved questions regarding his leadership style and his role in the offensive struggles last season. While the Eagles quarterback has been embracing change and a new offense, the issues regarding Hurts as a leader went viral.

Hurts has been backed publicly by Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie -- and general manager Howie Roseman as well. Roseman went into an adamant defense of Hurts in the Eagles' pre-draft media availability on Tuesday, saying the report regarding Hurts earlier this month was "unfair."

"From Nick's (Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni) perspective. From Jeffrey's (Eagles CEO Jeffrey Lurie) perfective. We're not hiding behind anything. We'll talk to our players directly," Roseman said. "I think it's unfair. I think it's unfair to have these articles written. It's also what sells at this point. I think it's unfortunate."

Whether the Eagles wanted to send a message to Hurts or not is irrelevant, but this season is the final year Hurts has a guaranteed salary of $51.5 million. That number reduces to $22 million in 2027 before the guaranteed money in Hurts' five-year, $255 million contract runs out.

Is Hurts on notice? The stats may tell a different story, but the Eagles may want to see improvement in certain aspects regarding their franchise quarterback. Hard to argue what Hurts has accomplished on the field with the Eagles, especially since the franchise has a .695 win percentage in his starts.

For all the discussion regarding Hurts' being a pocket quarterback, he finished fourth in the NFL in passer rating inside the pocket (104.2 rating). The completion percentage was just 16th (68.1%), but Hurts had 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions when throwing in the pocket.

Then there's the debate on pressure. Hurts was sixth in the NFL in passer rating when blitzed (109.2) and tied for third in touchdown passes (15). He completed 63.9% of passes with 15 touchdowns and three interceptions when blitzed, despite averaging 7.2 yards per attempt.

The Eagles did admit they aren't perfect in regards to have communication with their players, which they vow to fix as a result of this report that surfaced.

"We have some faults," Roseman said. "One of them is not being direct and honest with our players -- and having conversations with our players. If we have any issues with our players, we'll talk to them directly."

Hurts does have to improve his outside-the-pocket passing. His 77.6 rating was 20th in NFL, which was actually an improvement from 77.3 the season prior (23rd in NFL). The first-down passer rating of 97.7 (16th in NFL) can improve as well. The Eagles could improve their first-down runs and negative plays to combat this.

Again, Hurts is not a perfect player.

Hurts has been open to changes and appeared to get whatever message the Eagles have sent out to him. This season is a big one for Hurts, but the same can be said for any other franchise quarterback that has a $50 million salary (Hurts is the only $50 million per year quarterback to win a Super Bowl).

The Eagles could do much worse than Hurts. Significantly worse.