Eagles' Jason Kelce 'Really Happy' with Jalen Hurts' Spring Progress

Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce reacted to quarterback Jalen Hurts' comments about returning to play for another season.

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. – One by one, members of the Philadelphia Eagles defense fled through the door leading to free agency this offseason: Javon Hargrave, Marcus Epps, T.J. Edwards, Kyzir White, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. 

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon led the charge, with his sloppily-handled departure to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals just days after the Super Bowl.

The sky was falling.

Perhaps the offensive side of the ball got overlooked a bit. Sure, running back Miles Sanders and right guard Isaac Seumalo bolted to greener – as in money – pastures. Mostly, though, it’s an unchanged group, something pointed out by center Jason Kelce during his third annual celebrity bartending fundraiser in this Jersey Shore town on Wednesday.

“We know how good we were last year,” he said. “And whenever you lose pieces, even if they’re perceived to be better, it makes it difficult. We’re very fortunate on offense not to have a lot of new pieces coming back. We’ll have a new face at right guard, but hopefully, that’ll be somewhat of a familiar face.”

That familiar face is expected to be Cam Jurgens, but even Kelce knows that’s not a given. It could still be rookie Tyler Steen or somebody else, like, maybe, free agent Dalton Risner.

Kelce, of course, is one of the key pieces returning, opting to stave off retirement for at least one more season.

His decision to return was something that Jalen Hurts highlighted when asked in early June what stood out about the offseason moves and roster changes.

“Kelce’s back,” the quarterback said. “That stood out.”

Kelce’s reaction?

“I’m obviously really happy with the way Jalen has been progressing, and I think we all on the offense have a tremendous amount of respect for each other,” he said. “I think, obviously, you always love it when teammates say nice things about that, about you, but I think we all feel that way about all of our offensive players.”

With the bulk of the Eagles’ offense returning, and perhaps returning even stronger with the addition of receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and running backs D’Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny, it may be even more difficult to stop.

Not that it was easy last year. The Eagles scored 35 total touchdowns in the first half of their games. 

Though they scored just 22 combined in the second half, many times second-half scores weren’t a necessity to victory on the way to a 14-3 record.

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Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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