Eagles Give Jalen Hurts Pieces to Succeed, Now he Has a Year to Prove Himself

The first move was bringing in an old family friend to be his QB coach, then came the 2021 NFL Draft

PHILADELPHIA – There was a report that surfaced back in the days when winter’s winds were still howling down Broad Street, whistling right by the Eagles’ offices in South Philly, that team CEO and chairman Jeffrey Lurie wanted to prioritize Jalen Hurts’ role as the starting quarterback.

It blew into town in the days after the Eagles had agreed to deal Carson Wentz to the Colts on Feb. 18.

Turns out, the report was correct.

The 2021 season will be the year of Hurts, despite the Eagles casting a wandering eye toward Houston in the days just before Deshaun Watson’s legal troubles began to bloom and even toward BYU’s Zach Wilson when the Eagles were pondering a move up the draft board.

No pressure on Hurts, though.

If he fails, the Eagles only hold four picks in the first two rounds of next year’s draft, plenty of ammunition to move up the board to grab whichever quarterback rises to the top or to package in a deal to acquire maybe Deshaun Watson should his legal problems be sufficiently solved.

But hey, an opportunity usually only knocks once in the NFL. If it’s not heard or goes unanswered, well, it doesn’t often happen again.

This is it for Hurts. His chance.

The Eagles, though, hold the get-out-jail-free card with all that draft capital should Hurts not be there to answer opportunity’s knock.

Yet, they want to give him the pieces to succeed.

What’s that you say? Wentz should have been so lucky?

Say what you want about the Eagles not doing right by putting enough pieces around Carson Wentz to be successful during his five years as the face of the franchise – I say they did - the Eagles are all-in on making sure Hurts has what he needs to succeed.

Maybe Lurie and his righthand man, GM Howie Roseman, believe they didn't put enough around their former franchise QB and are making amends now.

“Obviously didn't think we'd be in a position where Carson wouldn't be on this team in 2021,” said Roseman back on March 18, two days after the deal to ship Wentz to Indianapolis was official. “I think it makes sense for us to kind of go back and think about some of the things we did and go through that process again.”

The wheels began rolling Hurts’ way in late January when they convinced Brian Johnson to leave his post as the offensive coordinator at the University of Florida to become their quarterback coach.

Johnson is an old friend of the Hurts family and has known Jalen since Jalen was about 4-years old.

The next steps came in the draft last weekend when the Eagles gave Hurts a No. 1 receiver in DeVonta Smith, a versatile running back in Kenny Gainwell, and a Jon Runyan-styled blocker in Landon Dickerson, who Roseman described as someone who “puts people into the ground (and) wants to bury guys” during his Tuesday morning visit to the Eagles’ flagship radio station, 94WIP.

Interesting description by the GM, saying Dickerson puts people “into” the ground, not just “on” the ground.

Anyway, Smith caught some passes from Hurts during their one year together at Alabama, just as Dickerson snapped the ball a few times to Hurts a few times during their one-year overlap in Tuscaloosa.

Gainwell is a dual-threat out of the backfield, with the ability to run and catch that should blend well with Miles Sanders, who can also do both, though his hands were a disappointment in his second season.

Smith and Gainwell look like two Grade-A weapons for Hurts to mix with Jalen Reagor, Sanders, and tight end Dallas Goedert in hopes the whole concoction produces a point explosion far greater than last year when they averaged just 20.6 points per game and joined the New York Jets as the only two teams in the NFL that didn’t score at least 30 points in a single game.

The time is now for Hurts.

If he doesn’t win enough games or shows sufficient improvement, especially with his completion percentage of 52.0 and his turnover ratio, which was six touchdowns to four interceptions, his opportunity may be gone.

No pressure.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.