The Philadelphia Eagles’ season ended in demoralizing fashion last weekend as they were thoroughly thrashed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-15. The mere 15 points the Birds were able to muster all came in garbage time as Tom Brady and company held a commanding 31-0 lead going into the fourth quarter. As has happened too often during this season, it was during this garbage time that Jalen Hurts finally showed signs of life. He flashed some franchise-quarterback potential that leaves the Philadelphia front office with a difficult decision to make this off-season.
The NFL is decidedly a quarterback’s league, and Philadelphia’s choice to stay with or move on from Jalen Hurts at the position is by far their biggest priority ahead of next season. Make no mistake, year 2 of Jalen Hurts has to be counted as a success. He demonstrated steady improvement from his rookie season and even strung together multiple victories that resulted in a wholly unexpected playoff berth. But, while Hurts has proven that he can be a good quarterback, the Eagles are still left wondering whether a merely good quarterback will ever translate into playoff victories.
The biggest positive Hurts has going for him is his work ethic. He improved as a passer every single season while at Alabama and thus far in the NFL has displayed a similar steady improvement. As a result, it’s highly unlikely that the Eagles will package their multiple first round picks to move up and select a quarterback in the upcoming draft. This year’s prospects aren’t anything to write home about and certainly none will perform as competently as Hurts can with a year and a half’s worth of experience under his belt in Philadelphia.
Just as Hurts is willing to be coached up by the Birds’ staff, the Eagles have demonstrated a commitment to helping their young quarterback through their offensive scheme. Throwing the ball in the middle of the field against zone coverage is a weakness for Hurts. The Eagles solution this year was to all but eliminate that throw from their offensive arsenal. Hurts was near the tops of the league at number of times throwing outside the numbers. This strategy, coupled with a dominant rushing attack down the stretch, allowed Philadelphia’s offense to function, if not thrive.
The downside is that there appears to be a fixed cap on what this offense can achieve with Hurts at the helm. His ability to escape from the pocket and hurt opponents on the ground is a luxury, but it often seems the tradeoff is that he sacrifices the option of going through his progressions to find a downfield receiver. Consequently, defenses can sell out to keep him contained in the pocket and dare him to pick apart their defense with his arm. It remains to be seen whether Hurts is up to that task.
The prudent move for Philadelphia is to be patient with Hurts. They should spend their prime draft capital on improving the roster around him and hope that his improvement will be enough to get them back to the playoffs next year. Should Aaron Rodgers become available…well that’s a different story. But also fantasy tale. Jalen Hurts is the Eagle’s present reality and very likely their future.
