Philadelphia Eagles: At this point, why not give Jalen Hurts more playing time?
At least the Philadelphia Eagles are trying to do something to save their season.
Jalen Hurts very well may be the most polarizing player on the Philadelphia Eagles.
To some, the decision to draft Hurts 53rd overall will forever go down as the worst move of Howie Roseman‘s second tenure as the Eagles’ head personnel man. These fans know the names of each player selected after the former OklaBama quarterback and will immediately throw around the ludicrous nature of his selection when a player like Jeremy Chinn returns two fumbles for a touchdown in under a minute, or a running back like Antonio Gibson goes for well over 100 all-purpose yards as Ron Rivera‘s do-it-all offensive weapon.
Whenever Hurts enters the game, probably to run a ‘trick’ play for like six yards, these fans wince, if for no other reason than that there’s a not-insignificant chance he’ll fumble the snap before he can even attempt said six-yard run.
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And to others? Well, he’s a quarterback not named Carson Wentz, so how bad could he really be?
Hurts played for two of the most popular college football teams in the nation during his four-year college period, had a breakout year as a 3,800-yard passer under Lincoln Riley in Norman, and brought a certain type of humble swagger the likes of which any fan would love their starting quarterback to possess.
Philadelphia has a long, complicated history of loving their team’s backup quarterback more than the starter, and when Wentz is engulfed in one of the worst seasons of any $100 million quarterback in recent memory, the cries for a change have only grown stronger with each passing week.
Remember, the Eagles are the only team in the league with a Bud Light-erected statue of their backup quarterback in front of their stadium. I know that’s a unique situation, but in a way, it’s almost poetic.
So now, with the season rapidly unraveling at the seams, Jeffery Lurie frustrated, and the entire front office/coaching staff far from guaranteed to return in 2021, the Eagles have a decision to make: Either continue to lose with Wentz or try to win with Hurts playing more than a handful of snaps a game.
Well, according to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, it looks like the Eagles are going to try to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time with a bigger package in the team’s Week 12 bout against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
Though Wentz will remain the team’s starter according to Doug Pederson – a position he’s maintained over the first three months of the season – Rapoport reports that Hurts will finally get a chance to run multiple plays in a row without Wentz on the field – an opportunity he’s yet to be afforded through his first 31 NFL snaps. Will he get a full series, maybe even multiple series against the Seahawks? Probably not, though anything is possible if the game gets away from the Eagles as Seahawks games often do.
Could Week 12 serve as a passing of the torch moment a la Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady back in 2001? Or could Hurts burn out spectacularly and destroy any hope of recouping that second-rounder a few years down the line?
Either way, there’s virtually no downside to getting Hurts more involved in the offense if for no other reason than that the Eagles really don’t have much else going for them.
Sure, the team is still in the hunt for a spot atop the NFC East, but if we’re being honest, it’s not like the Eagles don’t waste a ton of snaps in virtually every game they’ve played this season with uninspired play-calling, second-and-10 runs and choreographed ‘trick plays’ so predictable that other teams can practice call them out before Jason Kelce snaps the ball.
Remember, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense in 2020 is a shell of its former Legion of Boom days, so there will be chances to at the very least move the ball with Hurts if Pete Carroll and company don’t know what’s coming.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie being frustrated is good news. dark. Next
With coaches and general managers already starting to drop like flies across the NFL, Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman need to think long and hard about how to get the Philadelphia Eagles back on track. While giving Jalen Hurts 10-ish snaps a game isn’t going to make or break the team’s prospects moving forward all that much either way, it at least showcases a willingness to try something, anything to not go down without a fight. After watching this team play soft all season, that sort of fire would be much appreciated.