Early on in the Philadelphia Eagles' OTAs, the focus is on how the offense will work together as quarterback Jalen Hurts begins his new working relationship with offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.
So far, it appears to be high praise from both Hurts and Mannion, which is a better sign than last season, when Hurts was more reserved in his comments toward former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. When speaking to the media, Hurts said he always tries to work closely with the play caller.
"I'm always trying to get hip-to-hip with the play-caller, get as much direction as I can, so I can run the offense as he sees it," Hurts said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "And over time you grow as a quarterback so you can make it your own."
Jalen Hurts sticks to the same messaging as Sean Mannion, proving they are in sync
Mannion repeated the word "blend" multiple times during his press conference last week, emphasizing the need to combine what worked last year with new plays. Hurts appeared to have heard those comments from his coach because he also talked about the exact same thing.
"Right now, it's more so laying down the foundation of what we're doing," Hurts said. "And then over time, you can mesh some things. And you go at his pace. He's been very intentional about what he's doing and why he's doing — marrying things, getting that belief for us all. ...There are components of what we've done in the past that I know he loves, and he says, 'We've done this really well. ...we'll see how that fits in.' But it's still being installed as we speak."
Hurts was seen at OTAs running a lot of plays under center, which would be a stark change from last year when that was done at a minimum. It's a good sight for Eagles fans, though, as the team had a ton of success in play action and running the football from under center last season.
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The combination of Hurts and Mannion will take some time to develop as they feel each other out to see what works and what doesn't. It appears that, so far, it's all good, and the two together are only going to get better and better over the next few months.
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