5 Eagles Who Still Need to Prove Themselves After Shaky Start to 2023

2. Jalen Hurts

The context of Jalen Hurts proving himself is obviously a little different from Quez Watkins proving himself.

Hurts doesn’t need to prove that he deserves a roster spot, obviously, or even that he deserves a starting job. He needs to prove that he’s one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and capable of carrying this Eagles offense to a Super Bowl.

Hurts was incredible in 2022. As an MVP runner-up, he produced like an elite passer through the air plus like a top-end running back on the ground. That dual-threat ability made this Eagles offense incredibly hard to stop.

But we know that it takes a lot more than one season for a quarterback to truly establish themselves among the game’s best, and Hurts has not done anything to make his case so far in 2023.

As I mentioned above with Watkins, Hurts is often struggling to find even open receivers, and while he’s completed 71.4% of his passes that’s been largely a product of hitting short, easy throws. He’s one easy TD on busted coverage to DeVonta Smith away from having an average of less than 5.5 yards per pass attempt.

Even his rushing numbers are way down, at 3.4 yards per carry. Hurts hasn’t been able to get it going anywhere.

Hopefully this is just growing pains with new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.

Starting 2-0 buys us some wiggle room, but Jalen Hurts needs to turn things around quickly to keep the Eagles as serious Super Bowl threats.