Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts needs to embrace his inner point guard

Jalen Hurts is entering an interesting phase of his career.

He’s the Philadelphia Eagles‘ starting quarterback, and the team cemented that fact by only adding a developmental UDFA to their roster during the offseason but also adding future assets to further target the position in the future if 2022 is a failure.

Theoretically, the addition of A.J. Brown should make Hurts’ life easier, but the former Tennessee Titan also removes the third-year QB’s margin of error, as if he fails, the receiving corps won’t be to blame.

Scary? For Jalen Hurts, you bet, but hey, if the Philadelphia Eagles embrace what made him successful early on at Alabama – and worked incredibly well with Nick Foles back in 2017 – they might be just fine indeed.

Jalen Hurts needs to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ point guard.

When Jalen Hurts committed to play quarterback for Nick Saban at Alabama, it was sort of a weird choice.

Up to that point, the Crimson Tide had largely stuck with pro-style, pocket-passing game managers who could keep things on the former Miami Dolphins head coach’s schedule without getting too cute or creative. Hurts, by contrast, presented a more forward-looking approach to the position, as his ability to move around outside the pocket and pick up yards on design runs would have looked right at home in Chip Kelly’s Oregon offense or many of its imitators that sprung up across the NCAA landscape.

And yet, it works. Hurts won the starting quarterback job as a freshman, meshed his ability to run with Saban’s traditional read-and-react passing game, and Alabama found great success over that tenure. Now granted, Hurts was eventually benched for Tua Tagovailoa and ultimately had to transfer to Oklahoma for his final year of eligibility, but his decision to take his talents to Tuscaloosa opened a floodgate of running quarterbacks in Alabama that has continued to this day in 2022 recruit Ty Simpson.

Why, you may ask, is this relevant to your hometown Philadelphia Eagles? Well, because Howie Roseman assembled such a deep, talented offensive roster that Hurts may not need to be Superman in the pocket to deliver a successful season onto the City of Brotherly Love. If he can just emulate Nick Foles’ second Eagles run and become a passing point guard from the QB spot who can pick up positive gains when things break down on the fast break but mostly focuses on getting his guys the ball in the spot they want it early in the clock, Hurts’ offensive efficiency will skyrocket. His completion percentage will go up, his bad plays will go down, and the Eagles’ offense will stay on schedule.

A mixed, potentially confusing metaphor? You bet, but if you think about it, it’s apt; Foles was a basketball player before he became a Day 2 prospect at Arizona. Doug Pederson knew this and configured a free-flowing offensive that relied on maintaining a consistent tempo and getting the ball to the open man without the need for nine step drops or expansive downfield concepts. Mind you, Pederson still called vertical routes, and the Eagles had big connections down the field, but those were largely set up by a strong game within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage that drew in defenders.

Sidebar: Goodness, remember the RPO game that Pederson and Foles perfected in 2017? Imagine that play but with Hurts and Miles Sanders.

As counterproductive as it may sound, Jalen Hurts doesn’t need to be the best quarterback in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles to be successful. He doesn’t need to be the next Patrick Mahomes or the next Justin Herbert for the Eagles to make their way back to the Super Bowl and could earn a very nice extension without having cemented himself as a top-10 passer. If Hurts can just make good decisions, distribute the ball to his teammates, and continue to be a top-2 rushing threat from the QB position, Nick Sirianni’s offense should hum like a finely-tuned machine.