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PHILADELPHIA − Everywhere Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts turned this offseason, there were reports of his heavy hand in the offense last season that helped sabotage the 2025 season. Or there was A.J. Brown saying their relationship had changed.
Or there were rankings where Hurts is barely in the top 20 among NFL QBs.
Or how this could be a make a break season for Hurts as a way to explain why the Eagles haven't given him a contract extension, even though his current deal runs through the 2028 season.
Through it all, it's easy to forget that Hurts has taken the Eagles to the playoffs in all five of his seasons as the full-time starter and has a winning percentage of .695. He has taken the Eagles to two Super Bowls, one in which he was the MVP and another in which he would've been the MVP if not for a last-second field goal to beat the Eagles.
Buy Philadelphia Eagles tickets
But the question shouldn't be why doesn't Jalen Hurts get the respect he deserves, as much as how he really might be facing a make-or-break season in which he is being asked, as he put it, "to onboard another new system and put everything together, lay the foundation."
That makes Hurts No. 1 in our countdown of the Eagles' eight most intriguing players heading into training camp on July 28.
That system installed by new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion features more under-center snaps than Hurts is used to, more play-action passes, and perhaps fewer opportunities to be a plus-one in the running game. That, of course, has made Hurts so dangerous, and also so polarizing.
In other words, the Eagles could be relying more on Hurts' right arm than his legs this season. And they're doing this without Brown, who had at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of his four seasons in Philadelphia before his June trade to the New England Patriots.
How well, and how quickly, Hurts can master Mannion's system − Mannion is Hurts' seventh play-caller in his seven NFL seasons − could go a long way toward determining the Eagles' success in 2026, and to some extent, Hurts' future.
No pressure, right?
"I’ve had so many good experiences with Jalen Hurts as our quarterback and a leader of this football team," Sirianni said in June to a small group of reporters who cover the team on a daily basis. "I know that he’s relentless in everything that he does. I just think that he can do so much because he’ll work his (butt) off at it.
"I’m always so impressed with Jalen in that a guy that has accomplished so much, done so many good things, played so much winning football, and just has this relentless approach to just continue to get better and continue to do things however to help his game and ultimately help his team."
Let's play a game.
Quarterback A went 11-6 last season, completed 58.1% of his passes with 30 total touchdowns (passing and running), seven interceptions, and a passer rating of 90.1.
Quarterback B went 11-5 last season, completed 64.8% of his passes with 33 total touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 98.5.
In the playoffs, Quarterback A is 1-1 overall, completing 52% of his passes, with four TDs, five INTs and a rating of 65.9. Quarterback B is 6-4 overall, completing 65.6% of his passes, with 11 TDs, three INTs and a rating of 93.4.
Yet Quarterback A was ranked No. 10 in ESPN's annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts. Quarterback B was ranked 17th.
Quarterback B is Hurts. Quarterback A is the Bears' Caleb Williams, who became all the rage last season with his wild scrambles and passes that helped turn the Bears into a playoff team, despite his low completion percentage.
Other NFL QB rankings had Hurts in the 15-20 range. NBC Sports' Chris Simms had Hurts at No. 21, behind, among others, Houston's C.J. Stroud and the Colts' Daniel Jones.
Justin Herbert, who was drafted No. 6 overall in 2020, 47 spots ahead of Hurts, has never won a playoff game. Yet he's consistently ranked in the top 10.
MOST INTRIGUING COUNTDOWN: Tracking Eagles 8 most intriguing players for boom or bust 2026 season
SIRIANNI'S SURVIVAL: How Nick Sirianni survives as Eagles coach. Think ChatGPT, Vic Fangio
The Eagles, of course, wouldn't be asking Hurts to change his style of play if they didn't think he could do it.
That's because the Eagles have expectations for another Super Bowl run following a first-round playoff exit last season. In 2025, the Eagles were ranked 24th in yards per game and 19th in points scored per game.
Right tackle Lane Johnson used the word "predictable" to describe the offense after a brutal loss to the Giants last Oct. 9. It didn't get much better late in the season in which the Eagles failed to score more than 21 points in eight of their final 10 games, including playoffs.
Mannion's system, then, is based on the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan model of outside zone runs, play-action passes, and having the QB line up under center. All of which goes against what the Eagles have done in Hurts' five seasons as the full-time starter, where he would often line up in the shotgun, often with the choice to pass or run.
Yet last season, Hurts ran less than he had in any of his previous seasons. His 421 yards rushing were nearly 200 yards lower than his previous low.
The Eagles tried to adapt, even employing some of the McVay/Shanahan play-action passes at times, most successfully in a 28-22 win over the Vikings on Oct. 19, when Hurts had a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
"I think that with some of the schemes that we’ll be introducing – we’ve always run outside zone, we’ve always run gap-scheme situations − but maybe it’s going to be a little bit more," Sirianni said. "And with that, your play-action game will have even more opportunities to really show there. And so, excited about that and how he’ll do there.
"What we’ve done with him play-action-wise, that’s always been a strength of his, and looking forward to him doing more of it."
As for the contract, Hurts, who turns 28 in August, is entering the third year of his five-year, $255 million extension. The salary cap hits are not outrageous for a quarterback − $32 million this season, $42 million in 2027 and $47 million in 2028, according to overthecap.com.
That means the Eagles don't have to make that decision now.
But Hurts' 2028 salary is not guaranteed, and the cap hit balloons to $97 million in 2029, a void year. So certainly by next year, Hurts' contract will become an issue.
If the Eagles do extend him, then the next contract will last into Hurts' mid-30s, cementing him as the franchise QB. In so doing, the Eagles can spread Hurts salary cap hit for 2029 well into the 2030s while still making Hurts among the highest-paid QBs in the NFL.
But if Hurts and the Eagles struggle this season under Mannion's system, then the Eagles would have a decision to make about Hurts' long-term future.
So when the ESPN report came out this past spring about Hurts having a heavy-hand in the offense, or resistant to some of the changes under previous offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, Hurts pushed back.
"I’m always open to growth. I’m always open to improving," he said. "I think a lot of it is whether we put our time on task. What are we exhausting? What are we repping? And so, I’m looking forward to seeing how training camp goes, so we can just continue to build on the foundation that we began to lay (in the spring)."
That work has already begun.
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Sign up for the "Eye On The Eagles" newsletter, emailed to your inbox every Friday morning. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Can Eagles' Jalen Hurts silence critics, thrive in defining season?
Continue reading...
Or there were rankings where Hurts is barely in the top 20 among NFL QBs.
Or how this could be a make a break season for Hurts as a way to explain why the Eagles haven't given him a contract extension, even though his current deal runs through the 2028 season.
Through it all, it's easy to forget that Hurts has taken the Eagles to the playoffs in all five of his seasons as the full-time starter and has a winning percentage of .695. He has taken the Eagles to two Super Bowls, one in which he was the MVP and another in which he would've been the MVP if not for a last-second field goal to beat the Eagles.
Buy Philadelphia Eagles tickets
But the question shouldn't be why doesn't Jalen Hurts get the respect he deserves, as much as how he really might be facing a make-or-break season in which he is being asked, as he put it, "to onboard another new system and put everything together, lay the foundation."
That makes Hurts No. 1 in our countdown of the Eagles' eight most intriguing players heading into training camp on July 28.
That system installed by new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion features more under-center snaps than Hurts is used to, more play-action passes, and perhaps fewer opportunities to be a plus-one in the running game. That, of course, has made Hurts so dangerous, and also so polarizing.
In other words, the Eagles could be relying more on Hurts' right arm than his legs this season. And they're doing this without Brown, who had at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of his four seasons in Philadelphia before his June trade to the New England Patriots.
How well, and how quickly, Hurts can master Mannion's system − Mannion is Hurts' seventh play-caller in his seven NFL seasons − could go a long way toward determining the Eagles' success in 2026, and to some extent, Hurts' future.
No pressure, right?
"I’ve had so many good experiences with Jalen Hurts as our quarterback and a leader of this football team," Sirianni said in June to a small group of reporters who cover the team on a daily basis. "I know that he’s relentless in everything that he does. I just think that he can do so much because he’ll work his (butt) off at it.
"I’m always so impressed with Jalen in that a guy that has accomplished so much, done so many good things, played so much winning football, and just has this relentless approach to just continue to get better and continue to do things however to help his game and ultimately help his team."
Comparing 2 NFL quarterbacks
Let's play a game.
Quarterback A went 11-6 last season, completed 58.1% of his passes with 30 total touchdowns (passing and running), seven interceptions, and a passer rating of 90.1.
Quarterback B went 11-5 last season, completed 64.8% of his passes with 33 total touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 98.5.
In the playoffs, Quarterback A is 1-1 overall, completing 52% of his passes, with four TDs, five INTs and a rating of 65.9. Quarterback B is 6-4 overall, completing 65.6% of his passes, with 11 TDs, three INTs and a rating of 93.4.
Yet Quarterback A was ranked No. 10 in ESPN's annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts. Quarterback B was ranked 17th.
Quarterback B is Hurts. Quarterback A is the Bears' Caleb Williams, who became all the rage last season with his wild scrambles and passes that helped turn the Bears into a playoff team, despite his low completion percentage.
Other NFL QB rankings had Hurts in the 15-20 range. NBC Sports' Chris Simms had Hurts at No. 21, behind, among others, Houston's C.J. Stroud and the Colts' Daniel Jones.
Justin Herbert, who was drafted No. 6 overall in 2020, 47 spots ahead of Hurts, has never won a playoff game. Yet he's consistently ranked in the top 10.
MOST INTRIGUING COUNTDOWN: Tracking Eagles 8 most intriguing players for boom or bust 2026 season
SIRIANNI'S SURVIVAL: How Nick Sirianni survives as Eagles coach. Think ChatGPT, Vic Fangio
What Jalen Hurts has to prove
The Eagles, of course, wouldn't be asking Hurts to change his style of play if they didn't think he could do it.
That's because the Eagles have expectations for another Super Bowl run following a first-round playoff exit last season. In 2025, the Eagles were ranked 24th in yards per game and 19th in points scored per game.
Right tackle Lane Johnson used the word "predictable" to describe the offense after a brutal loss to the Giants last Oct. 9. It didn't get much better late in the season in which the Eagles failed to score more than 21 points in eight of their final 10 games, including playoffs.
Mannion's system, then, is based on the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan model of outside zone runs, play-action passes, and having the QB line up under center. All of which goes against what the Eagles have done in Hurts' five seasons as the full-time starter, where he would often line up in the shotgun, often with the choice to pass or run.
Yet last season, Hurts ran less than he had in any of his previous seasons. His 421 yards rushing were nearly 200 yards lower than his previous low.
The Eagles tried to adapt, even employing some of the McVay/Shanahan play-action passes at times, most successfully in a 28-22 win over the Vikings on Oct. 19, when Hurts had a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
"I think that with some of the schemes that we’ll be introducing – we’ve always run outside zone, we’ve always run gap-scheme situations − but maybe it’s going to be a little bit more," Sirianni said. "And with that, your play-action game will have even more opportunities to really show there. And so, excited about that and how he’ll do there.
"What we’ve done with him play-action-wise, that’s always been a strength of his, and looking forward to him doing more of it."
What it means for Jalen Hurts' future
As for the contract, Hurts, who turns 28 in August, is entering the third year of his five-year, $255 million extension. The salary cap hits are not outrageous for a quarterback − $32 million this season, $42 million in 2027 and $47 million in 2028, according to overthecap.com.
That means the Eagles don't have to make that decision now.
But Hurts' 2028 salary is not guaranteed, and the cap hit balloons to $97 million in 2029, a void year. So certainly by next year, Hurts' contract will become an issue.
If the Eagles do extend him, then the next contract will last into Hurts' mid-30s, cementing him as the franchise QB. In so doing, the Eagles can spread Hurts salary cap hit for 2029 well into the 2030s while still making Hurts among the highest-paid QBs in the NFL.
But if Hurts and the Eagles struggle this season under Mannion's system, then the Eagles would have a decision to make about Hurts' long-term future.
So when the ESPN report came out this past spring about Hurts having a heavy-hand in the offense, or resistant to some of the changes under previous offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, Hurts pushed back.
"I’m always open to growth. I’m always open to improving," he said. "I think a lot of it is whether we put our time on task. What are we exhausting? What are we repping? And so, I’m looking forward to seeing how training camp goes, so we can just continue to build on the foundation that we began to lay (in the spring)."
That work has already begun.
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Sign up for the "Eye On The Eagles" newsletter, emailed to your inbox every Friday morning. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Can Eagles' Jalen Hurts silence critics, thrive in defining season?
Continue reading...
