In his end-of-season press conference, Eagles GM Howie Rosemen made some comments that are certainly noteworthy, but also not surprising. As Around the NFL’s Kevin Patra writes, Rosemen has confirmed Jalen Hurts‘ status as the team’s starting quarterback entering the offseason. 
When speaking about the 23-year-old signal caller, Rosemen said, “We talk about Jalen and the growth he had, really, a first-year starter, second-year player, leading this team to the playoffs, [we were] tremendously impressed by his work ethic, his leadership” adding “we said we wanted to see him take the bull by the horn, and he certainly did that“.
After struggling early in the year, Hurts helped lead the team turn a 2-5 record into 9-8 and a playoff appearance. In 14 regular season games, he completed 61.3% of his passes for 3,144 yards and 16 touchdowns, to go along with nine interceptions. The more notable aspect of his game, of course, is his rushing ability though – something that led to a great deal of production on the ground. He finished the season with a team-leading 784 rushing yards on 139 carries (good for an average of 5.6 per attempt) and an additional 10 scores. As his performance in his playoff debut showed, however, there is certainly plenty of room for improvement in the passing game.
Head coach Nick Sirianni doubled down on the support for Hurts, stating “Jalen knows where he stands with us. I thought he did a great job of getting better throughout the year… He knows he’s our guy”. The vote of confidence doesn’t come as a surprise to many around the league, although others have remained skeptical Hurts can be a consistent enough passer to be the starter on a contending team.
It is important to keep in mind that the QB market has yet to fully take shape for this offseason. The fact that some, or all, of Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson among many others may be available via free agency or trade – coupled with the fact that Philadelphia owns three first round picks – could change the Eagles’ plans. As Patra notes, Rosemen publicly supported Carson Wentz this time last year before trading him, and that “Roseman could shift gears if a potential upgrade materialized”. For now, at least, the Eagles are proceeding with confidence in the status quo at the quarterback position.
That was a drubbing at the hands of the Bucs, but I suppose three first round picks helps. I will always be amazed that they got one for Wentz.
To me, the Bucs actually looked pretty haphazard for much of the game. There were a BUNCH of opportunities they had and either the Eagles defense cut them off or they had a mistake. Brady didn’t have a great stat line until we’ll after half-time.
Thing is, Philadelphia’s offense was so awful that the Bucs never really got burned on any of their failures to capitalize on situations. You give a team like Tampa enough time and eventually they’ll right the ship (no pun intended). Philly never put any pressure on them offensively, and contributed as much or more to the final score as Tampa’s own execution did.
His arm looked horrible vs the bucs, go full Lamar with your playbook and he’ll have a better chance
What other option is there? Crap in the draft at QB. Doubt they get Rodgers, Wilson or Watson.
Best bet is run it back with Hurts. They still play in a weak division.
They do have another good option on their roster.
Agreed, trade Hurts to somebody that thinks he is a starter, use Minshew as a bridge and chase a QB next year. This draft class is horrible for QBs.
Switching to the triple option seems like Philly’s best hope. I’ve seen nothing to believe he’ll ever beat anyone with his arm.
He can’t pass
I would like to see what he can do with a little something better in the reciever position. Smith, Quez, and bunch of randos isnt gonna cut it.
Reagor for Ridley feels like a good change of scenery swap for both players if they can do it.
I like the idea. But that is not a fair 1 for 1 swap.
Agreed, really depends on Ridleys mental health situation and relationship with the Falcons how much draft compensation the eagles would need to throw in.
Doesn’t matter who is out there trying to catch balls when he air mails it so far over their heads, misses wide open receivers and makes terrible decisions back there.
I cant imagine he has confidence at throwing potentially contested balls without a reliable veteran option, and given half of his decent throws get dropped.
Half of his decent throws? So that’s 1 of 2 per week, and those drops are typically because the receiver had to go up high to snag it so while technically it was in and out of their hands he’s not making it easy on them.
Found this interesting fact on their drops:
“using some advanced passing stats from ProFootballReference. Eagles receivers in 2021 dropped 22 of Hurts’ passes. That ranked 17th in the NFL.”
So 22 drops in 17 games which puts them 17th in the league, middle of the road. The receivers may have missed 22 times, but I’d guess he was wayyyy off target many more times than 22.
They had a historic running game, a great line, 2 good wide receivers, and a great tight end. It doesn’t matter if WR 3 and 4 are good if the QB loves to bail from clean pockets and refuses to go through his progressions. It also doesn’t matter if he can’t get the timing on throws right.
The Eagles are best served with taking advantage of having 3 1st Round picks in a thin draft for QB’s . They have a lot of holes to fill and this is the year. Giving that up for old QB’s or those with legal problems won’t serve long term.They can give Hurts another year and address QB next year.
All the Eagles have to do is not get worse and they’ll be back in the playoffs next year given the sorry state of things in Washington and NY. Thus they can hold off on their QB replacement and strengthen other areas – such as WR and DB – until better QBs become available.
Let Minshew compete with him. Not that I’m saying Minshew is better, but at least let the two compete. Minshew is the perfect guy to push Hurts.
I’ll say it. Minshew is better.
I actually don’t want to sound callous because I think Hurts actually has the best character and leadership of any quarterback in the league right now. He is that high in those respects. I think that, like Lamar Jackson, Hurts is committed to learning how to be more than simply an option running quarterback. For that, and his incredible work ethic, I’d really like to see him succeed.
Watching him, however, is rather hard. He just does not have the patience to progress through more than a few reads, or at least, that’s the way it seems. Granted, Philly’s offense overall is pretty terrible, but Hurts himself just misses on throws when he does make a good read far too often. He just does not seem to progress in regards to reading defenses or jumping to alternate receivers depending on coverage. I’m not sure that he will ever be better than, say, Tyrod Taylor as a starter. Taylor’s not bad, that’s not my point, but as it stands now, I don’t know if Hurts will ever make that huge leap to where he will equally as dangerous from the pocket as he is as a runner.
Agreed 100%
Most mock drafts have Philly spending all 3 first round picks on the defensive side of the ball. I think they should use one to sure-up the offensive line and/or take another stud WR to give Hurts more options. Reagor looks like a bust; all they have is DeVante and he will be double teamed without some additional help.
Reagor does look like a bust, but his numbers were better than Agholors first two years and while not worth the draft slot he proved to be a serviceable receiver. Both are considered solid teammates and hard workers so I understand their hesitation in cutting bait.
Just a little tidbit- the phrase is actually “shore up,” but I feel like it’s a super common mistake. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming!
Shore thing!
Use the picks to fill weaknesses. Get a WR, get rid of Reagor and JJ. I’d rather see Quez and Ward get time over these Howie busts. Get some OL depth and draft Linderbaum to continue to develop with Kelce at C or G if Brooks can’t stay healthy. LB needs help and we still need secondary help. I just hope Howie doesn’t mess it up like he has done so many times before.