Philadelphia Eagles roster: 3 Reasons to be optimistic about Jalen Hurts

2. Jalen Hurts will benefit from the Eagles’ 2022 schedule.

During the first half of the 2021 season, there was a half-joke, half-plea in the Eagles fanbase, as everyone chanted, at home in the stadium, for Nick Sirianni to “run the ball” more… literally.

After you exclude 66 rushing attempts by Jalen Hurts, the remainder of the offensive roster posted 98 during the first seven games of the season. 19 of those attempts came in Week 7 alone. Let’s put that in perspective.

Philly then went on to rush 94 times in the next three games, and that isn’t even including 30 scrambles by Jalen. As a team, they ended up second in the league in total rush attempts (550), and first in rushing yards (2,715).

The Eagles open their 2022 schedule with the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Commanders, and Jacksonville Jaguars. They finished 28th, 26th, 8th, and 23rd against the run respectively as Minnesota, and the Jags fielded bottom-tier rushing defenses. If that trend continues, Hurts and the Eagles’ running backs may be able to run freely through the first four weeks of the season.

The Washington Commanders, although they had a good run defense, had the 29th best passing defense in the league, which will assist Hurts in getting the ball to his upgraded receiving corps. Playing poor defenses will help the Eagles start on the right foot and allow them to build momentum early in the season as opposed to later.

3. Jalen Hurts is known for his motivation and his drive to succeed.

Throughout his collegiate and professional career, Jalen Hurts has been known for his desire to win and for learning from setbacks. Each time he’s become a stronger quarterback.

After joining Alabama, leading them to a 26-2 record, and tallying 4,861 passing yards and 40 touchdowns during his first two seasons, he was benched for Tua Tagovailoa in the middle of the 2017-2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

It was Tagovailoa’s job from that point going forward, minus some minor rotation at various points of the 2018 season and during the 2018 SEC Championship Game, when Jalen filled in for Tua due to an injury.

Hurts transferred to Oklahoma in 2019 and proved his doubters wrong, throwing for 3,851 yards and 32 touchdowns. He wound up being the runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting. That’s when a lot of Philadelphia Eagles fans began to take notice.

Hurts fell to the Birds in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and came into a system that already seemingly had an established starter at quarterback in Carson Wentz, who had just received a massive extension. He’d overcome adversity again by eventually winning the starting job over the disgruntled Wentz to earn the job as the full-time starter.

Jalen Hurts is used to overcoming adversity, and he will look to do the same in 2022. With many saying that this is his ‘audition’ and that the Eagles may look to draft a quarterback next year, or turn to undrafted free agent Carson Strong, Hurts will take this adversity as motivation to succeed, just as he always has.