Jalen Hurts Doubtful, Gardner Minshew Set for Second Consecutive Start

The Eagles QB made significant progress this week but contact remains a concern

PHILADELPHIA - Jalen Hurts is making progress but it's doubtful that the Eagles' star quarterback will make his return to the lineup against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

The Eagles made that doubtful designation official on Friday's injury report and by NFL standards, doubtful is out-adjacent. No league player listed as doubtful this season has ultimately played.

The same is expected here with Gardner Minshew set to start his second consecutive game and Ian Book, a 2021 Saints draft pick, as the backup.

Hurts returned to practice on a limited basis Thursday for the first time since injuring the shoulder on Dec. 18 at Chicago and was again on the practice field Friday morning.

“We’re still sorting through that,” Sirianni said when asked who the starter will be against the Saints. “Jalen had a good practice (Thursday) and did some things really well. Still going to sort through all those things. Haven’t decided anything yet. Still have a couple days.”

A league source noted that Hurts really impressed at practice this week, but the decision was made in the best interest of his health and safety.

The Eagles believe Hurts should be able to return soon, but contact was the big issue when the decision was made. 

Hurts is very comfortable throwing the football right now but whether he could withstand another big hit at this stage was still a concern as evidenced by his absence in a ball-security drill on Thursday.

Philadelphia can clinch the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the conference with a win over the Saints. In that scenario, Hurts would also likely sit in Week 18 against the New York Giants and return for the divisional round of the playoffs on the weekend of Jan. 21-22.

If, however, Philadelphia loses to the Saints and needs the Week 18 game against the Giants, Hurts could be back in the lineup.

For now, it's Minshew Mania for the second consecutive week.

"It’s good. The coaches have done a great job all year getting me reps, and making sure I’ve stayed ready," Minshew said on Friday afternoon at his locker. "So it’s been good."

Minshew completed 24 of 40 passes for 355 yards in a 40-34 loss to Dallas last weekend. The only downsides were two interceptions and four turnovers as a whole for the offense.

"We moved the ball well. Yeah, I thought we did a lot of good things," said Minshew. "… Just gotta take care of the ball. At the end of the day, that’s what beat us. We know what we gotta fix. There’s a lot of good to work on."

In other injury news both right tackle Lane Johnson (core muscle tear) and slot cornerback Avone Maddox (toe) were listed as out but Miles Sanders was a full participant Friday and will play.

Sanders was estimated as out in a walkthrough practice on Wednesday before returning in a limited fashion on Thursday. He's been practicing with a brace on his left knee for stability but he told SI Eagles Today that he hoped to ditch that by game day. If not, Sanders noted he would feel comfortable enough playing with the brace.

The most likely replacement for Johnson is backup Jack Driscoll but Sirianni also mentioned moving Jordan Mailata to the right side and inserting Andre Dillard at left tackle could also be in play, as well as trying the talented Dillard at RT.

Josiah Scott is expected to continue to fill in for Maddox in the slot with the top backup now being second-year player Zech McPhearson.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen