With Lane Johnson now retired from the NFL, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts must adapt his game in ways he may not want to, but will be forced to.
Johnson took to social media on Tuesday, just three days before the Eagles travel to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars, to announce his retirement from the NFL. He has taken time away from the team twice this season for a personal matter. He missed four days of training camp in August because of it, and he missed the Eagles' Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Rams for the same reason.
Throughout Hurts' career, Johnson has spoiled him by protecting the right side of the line and not allowing a sack in over two years. Now things will change quickly for the franchise quarterback, and he better be ready to adapt, or his career with the Eagles will falter.
Jalen Hurts faces toughest challenge of Eagles career without Lane Johnson
Rookie third-round pick Markel Bell will most likely take over as the Eagles' starting right tackle for at least the rest of the season. This was always part of the plan, but the hope was that Bell wouldn't have to start until 2027.
Hurts' game is going to change instantly with Bell in the starting lineup, as pass protection is not going to be as rock-solid as before. The Eagles and their quarterback will have to change their strategy.
If Eagles fans didn't like the quick-pass game, they are really going to hate it now, sincequick-pass Hurts has to get the ball out of his hands quickly. This might require quick completions in the middle of the field to rookie Makai Lemon or Darius Cooper in the slot. Philly might want to throw swing passes to Elijah Moore or Will Shipley out of the backfield.
Hurts will face more pressures from Bell at right tackle, plus Willie Lampkin and Drew Kendall tentatively starting at left guard and center for Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Just look at what happened with Hurts against the Rams in Week 4 when they blitzed him, according to NBC Sports Philly's Dave Zangaro.
"The Rams blitzed Jalen Hurts on 60.6% of his dropbacks on Sunday, per @NextGenStats. That’s their highest blitz rate ever under Chris Shula.
They blitzed the Eagles on 11 of 12 third downs — they got 6 pressures and a sack on third-down blitzes."
Philly's offense will have to get creative about getting the ball out of Hurts' hands in under three seconds. That's not really something he is comfortable with, but under 2.5 seconds should be his goal to take pressure off his depleted offensive line.
It's also time for Hurts to run the ball more than he does now. This could mean QB-designed runs or scrambling out of the pocket, but we haven't seen much of that in the regular season, despite all the talk of him getting faster in training camp. There's no better time than the present to start showing off that newly found speed.
Read more: Eagles' Nick Sirianni will be tested more than ever after Lane Johnson's retirement
If Hurts thought he was uncomfortable with Sean Mannion's offense and the changes, that could be magnified 10x with Johnson gone. This season's offense has not done well at all, but Hurts can control how the rest of the season goes and needs to lead this team by example by buying into the changes and playing like the Super Bowl MVP we know he can be.
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