The Eagles’ offseason, regular season, and Super Bowl hopes revolve around one man: Jalen Hurts
The Eagles must face what will be their biggest challenge on offense. They have to negotiate the difference between the player Hurts believes himself to be and the player he has been.
The Eagles have been busy lately, busy in the way that writers are when they tidy up their desks or 40-year-old virgins are when they freshen the paint on their action figures. They signed a couple of wide receivers, Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore, and they traded a seventh-round draft pick for a third-string quarterback, Andy Dalton. They’ve made small moves that might make their surroundings look a little nicer but that don’t change the fundamental issue they have to address. They still have to finish the book. They still have to meet the understanding woman. They still have to face what will be their biggest challenge on offense this season.
They have to negotiate the difference between the player Jalen Hurts believes himself to be and the player he has been.
Just about everything that they have done or will do to try to improve their ability to score points — and to improve their chances of winning another Super Bowl — should be viewed through that prism. It has been the factor that has driven the relative tumult of this offseason: the trade rumors and discussions around A.J. Brown, the search for a new offensive coordinator to replace Kevin Patullo and the decision to hire Sean Mannion, the hope that their offensive line will be healthier and better than it was in 2025.
It will be the factor that will determine whether 2026 will be the last glorious ride for the players who have been their offensive core for years — Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Brown (assuming he’s here), DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson — or a full-fledged transition to a new era. It is the most fascinating aspect of what promises to be a fascinating season.
Like every Eagles starting quarterback before him, Hurts has been the source of polarized opinions and analysis and judgment. He has been showered with praise, and he has been the target of biting criticism. And as with even the most contentious of topics, the reality of his past, his present, and his future with the Eagles is much more nuanced than the discussion around him would suggest. So let’s dive into that reality — a reality in which several things, even several seemingly contradictory things, can be true at once — and what it means for him and the Eagles.
Hurts is an excellent quarterback, one of a select number of NFL quarterbacks who have won and are capable of winning a Super Bowl. What’s more, two of the finest games he has played in the NFL — arguably the two finest games — were Super Bowls LVII and LIX. There is a lot to be said for a quarterback who has been at his best in the biggest games.
» READ MORE: It’s time to admit what the Eagles have been telling us all along during free agency
Through the first five years of Hurts’ career, his explosiveness and elusiveness when carrying the ball — whether on designed QB runs, improvised scrambles, or the Tush Push — distinguished him from other quarterbacks and were an essential component to the Eagles offense. His accuracy and touch on deep passes, his general care with the football, and his calm demeanor have also all been assets to him and the Eagles.
Because of the Eagles’ success and his individual and team-related achievements, Hurts places himself on a similar pedestal to some of the greatest athletes of all time. He has long been an admirer of Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, has formed friendships with both men, and in many ways models his personality and behavior after them.
Now here’s the tricky part. No one evaluating Hurts could reasonably say that he has been an equal to Jordan, Brady, or even some current NFL quarterbacks. Not even the most strident pro-Hurts partisan would suggest that he is the best QB in the league, let alone the best in the league’s history, as many consider Brady to be. Like most quarterbacks, he has required certain conditions and surroundings to reach his optimal level of performance. In fact, there have been lengthy stretches in which the Eagles have de-emphasized Hurts’ influence on the offense through the passing game and been better for it. They won their most recent Super Bowl in a season in which they threw the ball less frequently than any other team in the NFL.
Because Hurts considers himself to be comparable to those immortals and has been reluctant to reevaluate and adjust his preferences for how he and the Eagles play, his limitations have, in turn, placed limitations on some of his teammates, Brown most notably. It’s reasonable to conclude, based on his public comments and his apparent openness to being traded, that Brown believes that he can’t be the receiver he should be as long as Hurts continues to play as he has. Smith has expressed similar dissatisfaction.
Mannion represents a branch on the Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay coaching tree; he will design and implement a system different from any that Hurts has experienced with the Eagles. That system will demand that Hurts make faster decisions, throw with greater anticipation and accuracy on shorter routes, and place more trust in his receivers.
Before hiring Mannion, who is 33 and has never called plays before, the Eagles pursued two accomplished coaches, two former head coaches, to be their offensive coordinator: Mike McDaniel and Brian Daboll. Each surely had his own reasons for not taking the job. But the Eagles are among the NFL’s elite franchises, and a strong season as the team’s offensive conductor can be a springboard to a head coaching gig. Just ask Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore. So it’s fair to wonder why both McDaniel and Daboll chose to go elsewhere and whether Hurts’ presence and weaknesses were considerations for them.
» READ MORE: The NFL is primed to open up passing offenses again. The Eagles’ new coordinator had better be ready.
Hurts’ salary-cap hit, assuming his remains on his current contract, would jump from $32 million this season to $42.1 million in 2027 and $47.6 million in 2028, according to the database Spotrac.
Hurts’ rushing productivity and dynamism declined significantly from 2024 to 2025. He turns 28 in August, which means he is approaching, if he hasn’t already reached, the stage in his career when he can’t be as fast, as powerful, and as effective a runner as he once was.
One can envision the Eagles making this pitch to Brown to stay: We have a new play-caller with a new, more pass-oriented system. You’ll get your catches. We can make this work.
Hurts might very well take to Mannion’s offense like a bird to the breeze. If he does, it’s a safe bet that the Eagles will again contend for a championship, and Hurts will squelch any lingering doubts that he is anything but a consummate franchise quarterback. But if he doesn’t, the ripples will fan out far and wide, and the changes the Eagles will make promise to be significant. Starting with Jalen Hurts himself.