Eagles Rookie Jalen Hurts Aces Virtual Classes
Like any rookie, Jalen Hurts will ultimately be judged by what he does on the football field but the lack of “grass time” this spring has made things a bit murkier for the Eagles when it comes to evaluating the newly assembled talent.
As a quarterback, however, Hurts plays the most cerebral position in the game and for that reason, the Philadelphia coaching staff may have a better read on him compared to the other members of the 2020 draft class. After all, about all you can really accomplish in a virtual environment is teaching.
Doug Pederson, a former QB himself, sounded pleased earlier this week when discussing Hurts’ progress when it came to learning what is a complicated offense compared to most of the others around in the league; an Andy Reid-inspired West Coast scheme married with the modern concepts of the spread offense like RPOs.
There are tweaks to that as well with the move from Mike Groh as the first lieutenant of the scheme to a conglomeration of Rich Scangarello, Press Taylor and even Marty Mornhinweg and Andrew Breiner, subtle changes that are being designed to incorporate more Kyle Shanahan-like play-action concepts for the big-armed and mobile Carson Wentz.
Hurts, the Heisman Trophy runner-up for Oklahoma last season, has been catching on quickly, according to Pederson.
“His growth from a mental standpoint from the beginning of the offseason to now has been very good,” said the coach.
Taylor, who was elevated from QB coach to QB coach and passing-game coordinator, has been forcing Hurts to engage in huddle situations to try to replicate game-like environments.
There are obvious limitations, but the goal is to make the mechanics of the offense second nature so when the real bullets are flying, the young signal-caller isn’t bogged down with minutia.
“One thing Press Taylor has done is put him into a huddle situation where he's calling plays and being able to just spit that back to him,” said Pederson. “He's done that at a really good, high level, and now it’s just a matter of once we get him on the grass, he has to do it for real and go from there.”
It would have been much nice to see how Hurts and the rookie receivers brought on board meshed during OTAs and minicamp, which would have wrapped up this week in a typical offseason.
For now, however, Pederson and his staff have made the best of a bad situation and have seen only positive signs from the 53rd overall pick, although the plan remains for Hurts to start off as No. 3 on the depth chart behind Wentz and Nate Sudfeld.
“With Jalen (and) young quarterbacks, you always have an idea or an understanding of where they are, not only at the beginning of your offseason but at the end,” said Pederson. “You take things slower with young players. You take things a little bit slower so that they can understand the terminology. They can call a play in a huddle and teach them everything else that goes along with it.”
The end game isn’t acing Zoom or MS Teams sessions which brings us full circle to that pesky reality and that, Pederson-coined term, “grass time.”
“The one thing is just not having them (practicing) on the grass,” said the coach. “But I've been really impressed with (Hurts’) progress this spring.”
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
