Hurts says that he’s ‘above’ speculation
Jalen Hurts found out one thing that he doesn’t have to worry about in training camp, at least for now:
He will get the first-team reps at quarterback for the foreseeable future. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made that clear after the first day of camp on Wednesday.
But Sirianni left some wiggle room in case Hurts should falter. Still, it’s much different from the spring when Sirianni repeatedly said there will be competition at every position, including quarterback.
“Right now, Jalen is in with the ones,” Sirianni said, referring to the starters. “He’s earned that because he’s worked his butt off. We’re hoping that he takes the reins and rolls with it and continues to just get good reps with the ones.”
That status doesn’t faze Hurts, the Eagles’ second-round draft pick in 2020, who replaced Carson Wentz for the final 4 1⁄2 games of last season, with mixed results.
Neither did a question regarding the possibility of the Eagles trading for a quarterback, most notably Deshaun Watson of the Texans.
Watson, however, is facing 22 civil suits and a criminal investigation involving sexual misconduct allegations. A lengthy suspension is possible, not to mention legal repercussions.
Still, it’s easy to see that the Eagles would have the most to offer if such a deal were to transpire. They have four picks in the first two rounds of the draft in 2022, with as many as three of those picks being first-rounders, in addition to a plethora of young players.
Yet Hurts couldn’t care less. “There’s a lot of chatter that goes on,” he said. “I’m above it all. Control what I can. I’m here. That’s what I’m doing, going out there to be the quarterback of this team.”
Hurts won’t turn 23 for another 10 days, but to his coaches and teammates, he has already shown maturity and leadership, something that’s demanded from the quarterback position.
He showed that in his post-practice press conference when reporters were shouting over each other to ask questions. It was Hurts’ first experience in that setting after interviews were done over Zoom during his rookie season and into the spring.
Hurts chuckled and said: “This is how y’all do it. Y’all just outscream each other.”
“Jalen, for a rookie last year, was an incredibly mature young guy,” center Jason Kelce said. “You can tell that he’s been a leader at multiple levels before this. And it’s his natural way of going about the game, and the plays, in the huddle. He’s got a very confident ability, and he breeds that into his teammates.”
Still, nothing is set in stone for Hurts, especially as the franchise quarterback. Hurts completed just 51% of his passes last year and had a passer rating of 76.5, stats that were similar to Wentz’s 57.4 completion percentage and 72.8 rating, which were among the worst in the NFL.
But Hurts gave the Eagles a different dynamic as he ran for 301 yards, which projects to more than 1,200 yards over a full 17-game season.
There’s still much to learn, and Hurts will be playing for his fourth head coach in four years, going from Nick Saban at Alabama to Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma to Doug Pederson with the Eagles last season to Sirianni.
“The growth we want to see is just acceleration in the offense, right?” Sirianni said. “It’s just getting better and more reps at the offense ... These are some of the first times he’s run these plays. He’s just got to continue to take these reps.”