Shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles suffered a wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers this previous January, a bombshell report claimed that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had “been the supply of a lot inside frustration” amongst teammates and others throughout the group all through the season.
For a prolonged piece printed on Wednesday, Tim McManus and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN supplied extra data concerning all that went flawed for the 2025 Eagles.
Jalen Hurts “rubbed folks the flawed means” earlier than, after Tremendous Bowl win?
“There was a stage of consternation in pockets of the ’25 workforce courting to the summer time,” McManus and Fowler shared in regards to the Eagles coming off their Tremendous Bowl LIX victory. “…Beneath the general public pleasure surrounding the workforce was an uneasy undercurrent for some internally. A workforce supply at the moment described the state of affairs as a ‘catastrophe’ and indicated Hurts was a part of the difficulty, noting that no matter persona traits had rubbed folks the flawed means earlier than had grown for the reason that championship win.”
Hurts signed a five-year contract extension reportedly price as much as $255M with $179.3M assured within the spring of 2023, however multiple reports surfaced in the summertime of 2024 claiming that the relationship between the signal-caller and head coach Nick Sirianni had turn into at the least considerably “fractured.” In the meantime, supposed points between Hurts and broad receiver A.J. Brown might result in the Eagles trading Brown in some unspecified time in the future after June 1 of this yr.
Is Jalen Hurts extra of an issue than an answer for the Eagles?
In January, former Eagles defensive finish Chris Long suggested that Hurts was at the least considerably responsible for the struggles the Philadelphia offense endured all through the 2025 season. McManus and Fowler touched upon that matter, they usually stated that sources claimed that Hurts had “a hand within the offense changing into calcified” underneath former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
The Eagles parted methods with Patullo following the loss to the Niners.
“He has pushed again on modifications that might diversify the scheme, sources stated, together with in terms of him going underneath heart extra,” McManus and Fowler stated about Hurts. “He has proven a reluctance to let it rip at instances, significantly in opposition to zone protection. He diverts from the sport plan and modifications playcalls to what some really feel is an extreme diploma. His robust preferences, coupled with the coaches’ efforts to play to his strengths, which embrace his deep ball accuracy and throws to the perimeter, limits the breadth to which the offense can broaden — or at the least that is the best way it has gone prior to now.”
The Eagles have since replaced Patullo with former Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion. In line with McManus and Fowler, a workforce supply revealed that Hurts is now “as open as he is ever been” to modifications whereas working along with his sixth offensive playcaller since he was drafted by the Eagles in 2020.
“[Mannion] is anticipated to steer probably the most dramatic overhaul of the offensive system since Sirianni grew to become head coach in 2021,” McManus and Fowler added in regards to the Eagles. Whether or not or not that may end in Hurts and Sirianni persevering with their working relationship past the 2026 season shall be seen.
