Jalen Hurts On Pace For The Fewest Carries And Rush Yards In Eagles' Career

Some think that the Philadelphia Eagles offense would benefit from the quarterback running more, so the head coach addressed it.

Nov 28, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) scrambles with the ball against the Chicago Bears during the third quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles walk a fine line when it comes to Jalen Hurts running the ball. On one hand, his legs are a weapon. On the other hand, running with the ball puts him at risk of injury, though he can get hurt just as easily from inside the pocket. Most of his injuries, however, have come when he is running.

Then there’s some in the team’s fan base who think that Hurts not running the ball as frequently this season as in the past is one of the reasons their offense has been woeful.

“We're always thinking about how to protect Jalen and make sure that he is healthy for the long haul,” said head coach Nick Sirianni on Monday. “Different plans have different reasons of why you run different things. ...Jalen's talented in running the football. He is talented in also holding the backside when he doesn't run the football, so a lot of different ways to do that. Again, always looking at everything and how we can improve.”

With five games left, Hurts has run just 84 times this season for 321 yards. Both numbers have him on track to post his lowest totals since 2021, his first full season as the Eagles’ starting quarterback. His fewest runs in a season came that year when he had 139 carries and gained 784 yards. Hurts had 150 runs for 620 yards last year.

“I’m always open, whatever it takes to win,” he said last week when asked about not running as much. “Just go out there and execute it as called and go play the game. …Whatever works.”

The quarterback has suffered injuries throughout his career. Typically, they come late in the season and cause him to miss games.

Jalen Hurts Is Prone To Injury When He Runs

Jalen Hurts answers questions leading up to the Week 11 game against the Lions. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

He suffered a sprained shoulder running the ball in Chicago in Week 15 of the 2022 season and was concussed running with the ball when the Commanders’ Frankie Luvu walloped him in Week 16 last year, which led to many questions going into the postseason. Hurts proved to be fine and played well in all four playoff wins, including in Super Bowl LIX, when he was the MVP.

Hurts has had knee issues in two separate seasons, a high ankle sprain, and a dislocated finger in others.

“You're always thinking first about what the players do well, especially with your quarterback, how do you make sure that you're keeping them safe on those?” said Sirianni. “Even when you think about those, there are quarterback runs you can run that are a little (safer) than another quarterback run. But it's still football and you still (face) a risk at with every snap that you take, and that's on a drop back, too.”

So, yeah, keeping him healthy is a real thing. Also, Hurts is now 27. Sooner or later those legs that were able to outrun players when he was in his early 20s wear down, and the league gets younger every year. So, perhaps running him more won’t be as effective if his number is called.

“I don't think anybody wants to come out of a game with Jalen having 15 carries, design carries,” said Sirianni, “but again, we're looking at everything, and we'll see how that looks going forward.”

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