Jason Kelce downplays Jalen Hurts’ ‘halted’ learning comments on the latest episode of ‘New Heights’
“He’s at the stage now in his career that he can take that next step forward in making a lot of these protection calls and things that I did for him early in his career,” said Kelce.
Jalen Hurts raised a few eyebrows last week after telling SportsRadio WIP (94.1-FM) how his learning was “halted” because the Birds had Jason Kelce manning the offensive line.
“I think in the end when you look at this upcoming season and what you have seen in years past, it’s just different autonomy in different places,” Hurts told 94.1 WIP recently. “We had a great player in Jason Kelce who took on a lot of responsibility, and as a result, I was told not to worry about many things. And so my eagerness to learn over the years kind of was halted because of who we had, but now times are different and I’m excited for that journey and this opportunity.”
On New Heights Wednesday, Kelce said the comment was being blown out of proportion and that he and Hurts have discussed this extensively. Kelce felt the quote was a signal that Hurts is ready to take the next step in his growth as a quarterback. Early in Hurts’ career, Kelce took more of the reins as a longtime veteran. But now, Cam Jurgens is in his first year at center with Hurts becoming more of an established veteran.
Kelce specifically mentioned the team’s struggles with the blitz at the end of the season and said Hurts taking more control over the offense will help the entire offense be more productive.
“He’s at the stage now in his career that he can take that next step forward in making a lot of these protection calls and things that I did for him early in his career when he was a young player,” Kelce said. “He’s seen a lot, and I think that a lot of the things we struggled with late in the year, with the blitzes, when teams do a great job of disguising things, and you really don’t know where to direct it, the quarterback has to feel comfortable with where he’s hot at. I think that Jalen now controlling a lot of this and taking this ownership on [himself] is going to help, especially for situations like that, 100% but I think him taking on this as a responsibility is going to accelerate his game across the board.”