Eagles New Defensive Line Coach Most Important Offseason Hire

Clint Hurtt has experience from his time with the Seattle Seahawks familiarity with Jalen Carter and is charged with molding a young unit into a cohesive unit.

Eagles defensive line coach Clint Hurtt / John McMullen/Eagles SI

PHILADELPHIA – Every new assistant coach hired by the Eagles this offseason will be crucial to the team’s fortunes this year.

You can have the best roster in the league, but if the coaches aren't teaching and developing that roster won’t succeed. It’s why the argument against Nick Sirianni being coach of the year in the 2022 Super Bowl season never made any sense to me. “Oh, he had a good roster,” was the excuse some voters used to not vote for him. Sirianni finished fifth in the voting two years ago.

Sirianni had a good roster last year and they finished 1-6 down the stretch. Coaching matters in the NFL. As veteran defensive lineman Brandon Graham alluded to this spring – the Eagles didn’t have the right coaches in the right positions last year.

Leaving new coordinators Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio out of this equation, perhaps the most important new hire is assistant defensive line coach Clint Hurtt because he is charged with molding a unit that has only been allowed to purchase an alcoholic drink for less than a handful of years now.

Hurtt, 45, came over from the Seattle Seahawks, where he was the assistant head coach to Pete Carroll and the defensive line coach from 2017-2021 before spending the previous two years as the defensive coordinator.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter talks with reporters following an open OTA practice on May 22, 2024. /

“The first thing is (to) learn the culture of the building, see how everything operates … You want to fit in, obviously,” he said last month. “It’s been a successful place. You don’t need to come in and (do) anything crazy by imposing my personality and things like that. The biggest thing is fitting in, and obviously doing my part to help those guys develop inside. That’s really what the transition has been like for me so far.”

Getting Jordan Davis, 24, and Jalen Carter, 23, to reach the high bar in place after Eagles general manager Howie Roseman picked them in back-to-back first rounds – Davis 13th overall in 2022 and Carter ninth overall in 2023 - is particularly imperative.

“I love it because they’re both young,” said Hurtt. “They’re still in the molding phase about being developed in the run game and the pass rush.”

Hurtt has some familiarity with Carter from his time wth the Seahawks, who did a lot of pre-draft homework on Carter coming out of the University of Georgia. Many mock drafters had the Seahawks taking him fifth overall, but they went with cornerback Devon Witherspoon instead.

“Spent a lot of time (with Carter),” said Hurtt. “The big thing was he and Spoon were the two players who were in the discussion for us. Loved both players and thought the world of both of them … it’s always tough when those decisions are made.

“…It’s pretty cool getting the opportunity to coach him now. He’s maturing and coming along. I’ve been really pleased with the development so far.”

The room is young, with Milton Williams and Marlon Tuipulotu checking in as the “venerable” veterans at 25 after they both arrived in the 2021 draft. Davis and Carter, though, are expected to be tone-setters up front.

“You don’t replace a guy like Fletcher Cox, but they’re doing their very best to step up to the forefront and bring everybody together,” said Hurtt. “It’s been really cool from that dynamic to help them understand what it is to lead. And if you are going to be a leader, how you carry yourself.”

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