Quarterback's Turnaround From Spring Biggest Takeaway From Eagles Camp So Far

It was a struggle in the spring for the Eagles QB, but it's been a totally different story so far this simmer.

Jalen Hurts (right) and Eagles quarterbacks at training camp on Day 3. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – It’s been such a drastic change from spring, it’s difficult not to say that this has been the best training camp Jalen Hurts has had since arriving as a second-round pick in 2020.

Remember spring? Hurts was indecisive, inaccurate, and turnover-prone. The Eagles quarterback has been just the opposite after three days of training camp.

That turnaround is my biggest takeaway, so far, as the Eagles took Sunday off.

“Jalen’s been really smooth the first couple days,” said offensive coordinator Kellen Moore on Saturday. “He’s been excellent, just his operation. You can just tell he's in command, he's in control; he's doing an excellent job at the line of scrimmage with the little nuances, little adjustments that he has at his disposal, and so it's been really good.”

Based on what we saw in spring, it figured to take some time as Hurts adjusted to yet another new OC. Not yet it hasn’t.

Nor has the motion that Moore has installed – and it’s a lot – has affected Hurts in a negative way.

Eagles OC Kellen Moore likes what he has seen from Jalen Hurts after three days of training camp. / John McMullen/Eagles on SI

“I think it can help,” said the QB. “Over the course of my career so far, I do see the importance of being able to switch things up, adjust, give a different taste, give a different initial feel for things, in motion, in formations, using different players in different spots.”

There was some concern that maybe Moore would try to rein in Hurts’ running, which is such a big part of his game. Maybe it won’t be utilized as often, but it’s not going away. We have seen designed Hurts runs several times in 11-on-11 drills.

“Certainly it's been an excellent factor that Jalen has been able to utilize just being an extra guy in the run game,” said Moore. “Certainly, something we want to continue to build off. I think there is an element of just finding the games, finding the situations that are right to best suit when we utilize that.

“But it's a great strength of Jalen. He does an excellent job and he's a really smart runner. I think that's a critical factor to that, that he's smart with the ball, he’s smart with when to make those decisions, and I think he protects himself pretty well.”

Hurts is entering his prime, set to turn 26 on Aug. 7, so maybe this is just the way it’s supposed to, the natural evolution for a player who Saquon Barkley said earlier in training camp “is a natural born leader.”

Credit Hurts for the work he put in during the nearly seven weeks between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp.

He pulled the young guys together for a workout, a group that included veteran John Ross, who made a very good catch along the sideline, leaping high to pull down a throw after making a nice comeback move against Kelee Ringo.

“It kind of happened that way naturally,” Hurts said about the gathering in Houston. “But I think back on last year, we go into the wild-card game, and I don’t have A.J. (Brown, who was injured), and I don’t have the guy that I’ve been playing with all year.

“So being able to build that connection out of the gate, I didn’t have that with Julio (Jones) like I wanted. I didn’t have that with (Olamide) Zaccheaus like I wanted last year. So, going into this year, knowing that we have youth in the receiving room, and whatever happens, I know that I forged a relationship with them already. So if it comes up, we got some type of foundation to lean on.”

So far, so good for Hurts and the offense, which has yet to commit a turnover in three practices.

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