The Impressive Spring of Eagles' Jalen Hurts: 'Command Over Everything That Is Going On'

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles' Dallas Goedert has been around Jalen Hurts since Day 1 in Philadelphia, and the veteran tight end saw the same thing most observers expressed this spring, a more confident and comfortable signal caller who has left the idea of churn on the coaching staff in the rearview mirror.

Kevin Patullo will be Hurts' fifth play caller over his five seasons as the full-time starter with the Eagles.

The trio of Nick Sirianni, Shane Steichen, and Brian Johnson helped produce three consecutive playoff appearances and an NFC Championship. However, failure to finish the deal in a Ricky Bobby society (If you're not first, you're last) often had the angst-ridden pointing at the lack of continuity in Hurts' ear as the main culprit.

Once play-caller No. 4 -- Kellen Moore -- arrived and helped produce a Lombardi Trophy in one season, it seems silly to keep the narrative alive moving forward.

"I've been able to be around Jalen from his rookie year all the way until now and it seems like he gets more and more comfortable back there," Goedert told Eagles on SI earlier this week.

If anything, last season was the biggest challenge for Hurts since his first season as the starter in 2021 with a completely new coaching staff. Moore was coming from outside the organization and bringing new terminology with him.

"Last year was a little bit different because our offense did change so much under Kellen," Goedert admitted.

Hurts himself regretted the 95% new tag he put on the changes because the core philosophy of the offense was built around the quarterback's strengths, so there were more familiar staples than not, albeit with the tweak of shifting vocabulary.

Patullo, meanwhile, has been Siriann's right-hand man since 2021 and an important part of the offensive process as passing game coordinator and ultimately associate head coach before shifting to the OC role and play caller this season. Moore and Patullo also grew very close in their short time together last season.

"Being able to carry [Moore's offense] over with Kevin, who's been here and been able to keep stuff the same [is important]," Goedert said. "I remember it was when we went to the Super Bowl in 2022, early in camp that year, [Hurts] was making checks that he wasn't making the year before.

"He was seeing the game a little bit different and I feel like that's just he's just evolved and continuing to get better each and every year."

The bridge from Steichen, now the head coach in Indianapolis, taking over the play-calling about midway through the 2021 season and handling it through 2022 in the run to Super Bowl LVII was a frequent talking point.

Part of Hurts' current comfort level is the added savviness of experience, while confidence also can't be dismissed and is clearly at an all-time high for the sixth-year pro after winning the big one as the Super Bowl LIX MVP.

Hurts has never been known as a great practice player simply because his off-schedule brilliance is shelved for the most part due to the quick whistles in play to protect the quarterback at all costs.

For the first time this spring, Hurts was a great practice player even without the off-schedule stuff, perhaps a daunting warning sign for the rest of the league.

"I thought he looked really good this spring. I didn't see a lot of the balls hit the ground," Goedert said. "He was getting the ball out quick. He was making checks that we haven't even installed yet but he knew them from the years past and it's just cool to see a quarterback have that much command over everything that's going on."

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