Jalen Hurts gives us a great metaphor for competition

We’re just days away from the time running out on the month of May, and the Philadelphia Eagles have yet to do what most of the Birds fan base, the media that covers them, and the general public sees as inevitable. Why won’t they just name Jalen Hurts as the starter already?

We’ve seen head coach Nick Sirianni do all that he can to avoid making the declaration. He’s continued to stress “competition at every position” and what the team calls “trying to get better every single day”.

The fans have their opinions as you might expect. Some have pointed out the fact that Philly used a second-round draft choice to add Hurts in 2020. Carson Wentz is also gone. That means they have to give Hurts the keys right?

We finally get an answer from Jalen Hurts.

On the third Wednesday of May, and for the first time since Wentz left for Indy, we finally got to hear from the Eagles signal-caller on this ‘quarterback competition’. Jalen Hurts, always the calmest, coolest, and the most collected guy in the room spoke with the media for about 17 minutes and, while doing so, drew a very interesting parallel.

Here’s a promise. You haven’t heard a better explanation of competition or rent than this one in quite some time.

"No one is above (competition). Everybody’s got to go to work. Rent is due every day. It’s always been that way for me. (I’ve) always been a get (a) better mentality every day (kind of guy). Grow every day. Be a better leader every day. Be a better quarterback every day. When that rent’s due, I don’t plan on missing payments"

Eagles fans will soon see if Jalen Hurts is the guy.

For Jalen Hurts, the first day on the job came early, but we didn’t know what type of player he’d be as he was only asked to hand the ball off a few times a game. Then came the promotion. He looked good for the first half of the New Orleans Saints game, but N.O. made adjustments, and that was about it for Mr. Hurts in that one. Philly won anyway.

He struggled early versus the Arizona Cardinals and turned it on late, but the Birds lost. He looked bad versus the Dallas Cowboys (that one was a loss). He looked a little better versus the Washington Football Team and was pulled when it looked like he had a chance of winning.

It would have been nice to see if he could have pulled his team out of the fire, but he was robbed of the opportunity. Eagles fans learned something in the process though. At this point in his career, Jalen Hurts is a better runner than a passer. That’s okay, for now. It was his first four games as a starter. He wasn’t supposed to look like Joe Montana.

The question is where does he go now? Is this team behind him? It seems like they are. With the tenth-overall selection and with Justin Fields on the board, Philly said no to the ‘Quarterback Factory’ and yes to DeVonta Smith. They’ve added offensive lineman and weapons, but they’ve also added Joe Flacco. They had to. They didn’t have any quarterbacks (and they still need another one).

Is Hurts the guy? Only time will tell, but Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie insisted that his team do all that it could to ensure Hurts’ success. They’ve tried to do that. Now, on to making that rent money, or competition or whatever you want to call it. Here are some cold and hard facts in the meantime though. If Jalen Hurts can’t beat out Joe Flacco, he doesn’t deserve to start anyway. Maybe we should be discussing that a little more.