It’s amazing what trust and opportunity can do for players, especially a ridiculously criticized player like Jalen Hurts.
The Eagles’ second-year quarterback is starting to show fans and teams what he’s capable of, and all it took was his coach giving him the time to do it.
I’ve been a firm believer in Jalen Hurts since he was a freshman at Alabama. That continued over the next three years, to the day he was drafted by Philadelphia in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft with the 53rd pick and to through the current day.
I felt the Steelers should have selected Hurts with the 49th pick (Chase Claypool) as they needed a replacement for their aging Hall of Famer, Ben Roethlisberger.
With a season or two under Roethlisberger and Tomlin, Hurts’ development would have been tremendous.
Instead, he went to the Eagles and had to endure doubt and confusion in his rookie season.
Hurts’ accomplishments at Alabama and Oklahoma should have garnered him more respect.
He was second in the Heisman vote and would have won if not for the historic season Joe Burrow had at LSU.
How good was Hurts’ senior year for the Sooners?
He had more passing yards (3,851 yards), rushing yards (1,298 yards), and total TDs (53) than Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jacob Eason.
Yet despite his performance, people weren’t sold on Hurts.
“The Eagles take a chance on Hurts as their QB2,” wrote Bucky Brooks after the draft on NFL.com. “The former Alabama/Oklahoma standout is a high-character player with natural leadership skills. Hurts has improved significantly as a passer and is a rugged dual-threat playmaker with intriguing developmental potential.”
A year later, and after only four games as a starter on a bad Eagles team highlighted by a tank job from outgoing head coach Doug Pederson, the doubt increased from analysts like ESPN’s Todd McShay.
“Jalen Hurts, are you getting an upgrade here? I mean he completed 52%,” said McShay. “In four games he started, he threw three interceptions. He threw four interceptions over the season. I know the stats are similar when you look at Wentz and Jalen Hurts over this past year. I just don’t know that you’re getting a huge upgrade with Hurts. And I just wonder if Philly is comfortable moving Wentz and not bringing in another quarterback for competition, or as a backup or something that kind of gives you a better sense of what’s going to be at that quarterback spot moving forward.
“Because I personally, if I was the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, I would not feel comfortable going into the season saying, ‘Hurts is the guy. He’s going to take us to the promised land. We believe in him 100%. We don’t even need to bring in another guy.’”
Fast forward to 2021 and Wentz is in Indianapolis while Jalen Hurts is (finally) entrenched as the Eagles starter.
They started slow, causing many to doubt Hurts yet again. But now the Eagles are starting to click.
They’ve won two straight, including dominant wins over the Broncos in Denver and the Saints on Sunday afternoon at home.
Overall this season, he’s thrown for 2,159 yards with 13 TDs and 5 Ints. He’s also added 549 yards rushing and 5 TDs.
But Sunday was Jalen’s most impressive victory to date, one that cements his place as the team’s offensive leader.
He only threw for 147 yards, but he ran all over the Saints D, amassing 69 yards and 3 TDs while leading his team to a 40-29 thumping of New Orleans.
After the game, Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni, who refused to name him QB1 at the start of the season, had complimentary words for Hurts.
”Jalen is a special player who forces defenses to play different,” said Sirianni.
Forcing defenses to play differently is exactly what Jalen Hurts is doing, and it’s resulting in wins for the Eagles.
He’s leading the team with his arm, legs, eyes, and brain. That, in turn, is molding the Eagles into a team that, while sitting at 5-6, is competing each week.
Hurts is forging the team’s identity through his leadership and play.
“Identity is a mentality. It’s an approach” exclaimed Hurts after their victory today. “It’s the detail you put in day in and day out throughout the week. It’s being physical, it’s wanting it, it’s effort. It’s all of those things. I think that’s what we want to be. That’s what we’re growing to and what we’re evolving into.”
And what Jalen Hurts is evolving into is a damn good quarterback who only needed the time, trust and opportunity to prove that he’s a leader who can win.
