Jalen Hurts is aware of what he did flawed in 2023. Figuring out him, he in all probability went over his errors advert nauseam, critiquing each quick move, to each missed learn. He additionally is aware of he might and will have been a greater chief in 2023, particularly through the Eagles’ 1-6 debacle.
What’s encouraging, in line with a mess of sources in and across the workforce, is that Hurts is way extra vocal and is placing his stamp on the 2024 Eagles.
Prior to now, Hurts, being an outdated soul with old-school values, deferred to the veterans. It’s the method he was introduced up, it’s the method they operated at Alabama and Oklahoma. It’s the path Hurts has adopted as an Eagle. He didn’t suppose it was his proper to talk up, out of deference to revered workforce captains Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox.
With Kelce and Cox now gone, that voice now turns into him, the franchise quarterback and face of the franchise.
What can also be strong is his relationship with Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni. There aren’t any points there, regardless of what has been blown out of proportion domestically.
Everybody carried some weight within the Eagles’ collapse final season, from the gamers themselves quitting on late-season defensive coordinator substitute Matt Patricia and first-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, to Sirianni’s teaching bandwidth stretched so skinny that he couldn’t navigate via the swoon spilling out earlier than his eyes, to Hurts’ reluctance to talk up, though he had the backing of veterans and even some veterans imploring him to take action.
Hurts is not going to be, nor ever has been a rah-rah man. He is not going to throw a pretend smile for the cameras. He retains his feelings tucked tight. He isn’t “an actor.” He is not going to dance for the media. He by no means has. He’s very genuine. Signing the $255 million contract took him out of his routine final offseason. His accessibility to media, followers, teammates grew to become restricted. In equity to Hurts, who could be very guarded to start with, his defensive partitions went up even larger with the numerous open arms coming at him pulling him in numerous instructions final offseason—hanging on his recognition when his model was scorching.
This offseason, Hurts has been omnipresent. He has been extra demonstrative. He has been far, much more accessible. Within the weight room, he has made it a degree to work out with numerous place teams, in there encouraging Saquon Barkley, encouraging everybody. He’s exhibiting up at teammate’s features that he beforehand didn’t.
His teammates have observed.
Final week on The Wealthy Eisen Present, Eagles proper deal with Lane Johnson mentioned Hurts has, “gone out of his solution to join together with his teammates. Simply this offseason, he’s actually carried out a very good job of bonding together with his teammates. I really feel just like the connection has positively grown. A very large offseason. The work ethic has by no means been a difficulty. Super employee. However, simply turning into a extra vocal chief and, each time he speaks, guys pay attention up.”
“Yearly is type of a prove-it deal to all people whenever you’re in that city. Jalen’s our man shifting ahead. We love him, we respect him, and no person places in additional work than he does.”
There’s a sturdy feeling that if Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke got here leaping over the road and smacked Hurts within the head, as he within the season finale with :58 left within the first quarter of the Eagles’ ugly 27-10 loss on January 7 on a “Brotherly Shove” play, Hurts’ teammates will be sure their quarterback is defended this time.
Joseph Santoliquito is a corridor of fame, award-winning sportswriter based mostly within the Philadelphia space who has written function tales for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Inquirer/Each day Information. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a particular venture piece for ESPN.com known as “Love at First Beep.” He’s most famous for his award-winning ESPN.com function on highschool wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.
