Hurts swap won’t help a defi cient team

Doug Pederson took a lot of heat for saying that benching quarterback Carson Wentz in favor of Jalen Hurts would be like giving up on the Eagles’ season.

Pederson is right. He just didn’t give a complete explanation.

First and foremost, there is no way the Eagles’ coaching staff could figure out how to incorporate Hurts’ strengths into this dysfunctional, broken system in the middle of a season to make the switch worthwhile. Not when they can’t do it with a proven veteran.

Just look at the package of plays Hurts has been given in the wildcat. It’s so predictable that defensive players are getting to his spots before he does.

Who has a quarterback under duress by a savage pass rush behind a faltering offensive line throw out of the end zone in a rainstorm? And you want these guys figuring out what to do with Hurts?

Think about that every time you want Wentz benched. Think about the geniuses formulating the game plan. Where are they getting their ideas, Disney movie scripts?

The way this Eagles team is constructed, in terms of coaches and players, it’s next to impossible to make a worthwhile evaluation of anyone, much less Hurts. At his Monday presser, Pederson basically said that Wentz was making no more or less mistakes than most of the players on a 3- 6- 1 team. He mentioned that the coaches have to do better, too.

The Eagles obviously need a spark. Wentz was supposed to supply it. The Eagles learned the hard way that he lacks the genuine leadership qualities of someone like, dare we say, Nick Foles?

Foles was authentic, and players gravitated toward that. Being around the quarterbacks in the days when the locker room was open and players were accessible in person during training and minicamps, Wentz just wasn’t as affable as Foles.

One pre- pandemic day, several reporters were headed back to the media house on the NovaCare campus after a news conference. Wentz was in our path and saw us coming. Foles would have stopped and said hello. Brandon Graham would have laughed and said, “no interviews, I already spoke.” Nelson Agholor would have told somebody he liked his hat or sneakers. Wentz began scrolling through his cell phone and kept walking. The writers looked at each other.

From what we’ve been told, Wentz is more of a leader than he was back in those days. The reality is he didn’t have to lead because the Eagles were full of veterans proficient in doing that, including Malcolm Jenkins, Chris Long and, during the Super Bowl run, Torrey Smith and LeGarrette Blount. The Eagles locker room was so tight it could absorb and get production out of high- maintenance players like Jay Ajayi. Retooling the roster has taken a toll. So has the coronavirus protocols limiting just about everything for the players, including the chance to create locker room connection and chemistry.

But back to Hurts, who has shown leadership qualities with his work ethic at practices. If Hurts miraculously found a way to survive behind what now is arguably the worst offensive line in the league’s worst division, it’s unlikely he’d be able to make enough plays to put on a highlight reel. And that would be the major benefit of his rookie season.

The Eagles have allowed a leagueleading 40 sacks. While Hurts is much more mobile than Wentz, Michael Vick in his prime couldn’t keep plays alive behind this line.

Wentz was dropped five times but easily could have been sacked 10 times in Cleveland. He killed the ball like Tom Brady a few times, threw a couple of picks while getting hit and showed the hesitancy any quarterback who has taken such a beating would.

It’s not all on the offensive line. The receivers can come back to the ball when he’s in trouble. You can see that watching the replays. But when 38- year- old Jason Peters has so little left that the only help he provides is helping his quarterback up after letting a defender sack him for a safety, that tells you a change is needed. Pederson knows that. Yet Peters is still the left tackle going forward, per Pederson, yet another sign that he’s being told who to play.

If Pederson wanted to be honest and transparent, he could have said that benching Wentz would be like giving up on the rest of this season, next season and maybe the one after that.

Wentz signed a four- year, $ 128 million contract extension with almost $ 67 million guaranteed at signing. It fully kicks in next year when Wentz counts $ 35 million against the salary cap.

The Eagles cannot get out of that pact without severe cap repercussions for at least a couple of years. They are stuck with Wentz.

We still don’t know if Hurts is a full- time NFL quarterback. Clearly, he has enough ability, mobility and arm talent to be in the league.

Playing Hurts now almost certainly would make a lousy Eagles season lousier. And it would carry over to next year, and maybe even the year after that.