Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is playing for his fourth offensive coordinator in five years in the NFL.
Hurts had to learn the Doug Pederson/Press Taylor offense as a rookie in 2020, before he got on the field in the last few games of the season. He became the full-time starter the following year. In 2021 and 2022 — the latter being Hurts’ best season — it was Shane Steichen’s system.
A year ago, after Steichen left to become head coach in Indianapolis, it was Brian Johnson’s. Hurts regressed, the Eagles collapsed, and Johnson was fired.
So, here Hurts and the Eagles are with Kellen Moore, the savior from the Dallas Cowboys via San Diego. For an Eagles organization that prides itself on stability, that’s a lot of turnover surrounding the most consequential position in all of sports.
“It’s a lot of new things to learn with this offense,” Hurts said in an offhand comment over the summer.
Not only was it another new playbook to learn, it was new offensive line protections, which Jason Kelce used to handle before retiring. It was pre-snap motions, to help Hurts read whether the defense was in man-to-man or zone, that Hurts had to call himself. It was a litany of new responsibilities, and depending on how you look at it, new freedoms as well.
For the most part, general manager Howie Roseman and the Eagles have been able to pull off this high-wire act of juggling coordinators without a major slip and fall. Or so it seems.
It’s like the delicate balance of selling your house before you’ve closed on a new house, and then doing it again a year later. And then again. And again.
Who would engage in such a pattern unless it’s almost pathological?
If it doesn’t work out this year, based on owner Jeffrey Lurie’s history, the entire coaching staff (from Sirianni on down) will be fired and the Eagles will start from scratch. Again.
With an offensive roster of this caliber, however, this has to work … right?
Judging by Hurts’s performance against the Packers in Week 1, it may take a while, if it works at all. He was 20-for-34 for 278 passing yards with two touchdowns against and interceptions — and a failure of the eyeball test. He was late and inaccurate on some key throws. Then again, it was Week 1, without any preseason game warmup.
“Yeah, sometimes with those, we call a particular play that has some opportunity to earn the first down,” Moore said on Wednesday. “And, at the same time, there are some situations where, hey, any completion is good, and we’ll make the decision as far as fourth down, whether it’s a kicking opportunity or a go-for-it opportunity. Those situations, sometimes those play out differently.”
Come again?
Amid that word salad, there were some things that Hurts, Moore and the offense were working on that Moore didn’t want to get into publicly. But Hurts was underwhelming against Green Bay – even concerning – as if there was no progress since last December.
“It’s always good to be able to figure out things with a win,” Hurts said. “I think Coach (Moore) did a great job. I think I’ll continue to get that rhythm with him. … I think we just have to hone in on the fundamentals. That’s what it comes down to, playing this game, playing this position, really understanding that and being on the same page with him.
“We had some adversity early in the game, I definitely could have avoided some of those things. I put us in a bad spot as a team. … But, in the end, we made some crucial plays to extend drives, crucial plays down the field, crucial plays on defense and even showing up on special teams as well. But you’re going to keep pressing forward.”
To paraphrase “Silver Linings Playbook,” if it’s me reading between the lines, it seems like they’re not on the same page and there’s still a lot of work to do. That much was obvious, just as it’s obvious that changing coordinators nearly every year isn’t a sound plan.
Hurts isn’t the type of guy who would ever admit it, just as he wouldn’t admit he was playing in pain much of last year, according to multiple reports. But is it really a surprise? And is it really Jalen’s fault?
Hurts and Moore haven’t been together very long. Hurts’s best season, when the Eagles came up just short in the Super Bowl against Kansas City, was in his second year in the same offensive system, under Steichen. He was probably the best offensive coordinator the Eagles had over the past several years. But even setting that notion aside, there’s also something to be said for continuity.
Not that doubling down on a mistake is good, either. If a coach or coordinator was the wrong hire, or if circumstances change, yank the plug instead of drawing out the problem.
The question is: Is Hurts the guy from 2022, who made quick decisions, was accurate, and came within a few wisps of winning a Super Bowl?
Or is he the guy from last year — and Week 1 this year in Brazil — who, despite some gutsy early wins, ultimately struggled to read defenses, held the ball too long, and missed open receivers?
To wit: Who is the real Jalen Hurts?
Maybe the Eagles don’t know, either. Maybe Hurts doesn’t know — or he’s just frustrated as hell with what he’s been put through.
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Christiaan DeFranco covers the Philadelphia Eagles, preps and other sports for MediaNews Group. Follow him on X at @the_defranc.
Source: Berkshire mont