Can Jalen Hurts become the vocal leader the Eagles are asking him to be?

It's no secret that Jalen Hurts is one of the best young quarterbacks in the entire NFL. He led the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl LVII during just his second season as a full-time starter, and at 25 years old, he's already been named to two Pro Bowls.

However, Hurts' play plateaued a bit last season, as his turnovers were up and his big-play potential appeared to be down. Philadelphia's offense as a whole sputtered down the stretch of the season, and while Hurts wasn't solely to blame for the team's struggles, he wasn't blameless either.

The Eagles took a step in the right direction in that regard by relieving offensive coordinator Brian Johnson of his duties and replacing him with Kellan Moore. But, while a coaching change was necessary, improvement will also be on the players -- especially on the starting quarterback.

After making a major financial investment in Hurts last spring, the Eagles are going to want to see continued development from him, both on and off of the field, as he is viewed -- both internally and externally -- as a leader of the team.

The Eagles want a more vocal Jalen Hurts. The questions are about whether or not that's in his nature.

At this point in his career, Hurts isn't known as being an especially vocal guy. He's stoic and reserved and typically lets his play do the talking for him. While that approach has worked pretty well for him thus far, some members of Philadelphia's brass would like to see Hurts embrace a slightly more vocal leadership style, according to NFL reporter Mike Garafolo, who had this to say about the situation:

"[The Eagles] feel like new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is going to bring some fresh ideas, which should help Hurts and that offense, but there is a non-X's-and-O's element at play here. That is that Hurts, he's usually of few words and he's stoic. They want him to be more front-facing and more of a vocal leader, especially because Jason Kelce might be retiring, Fletcher Cox as well and some other long-term fixtures could be moving on with the Eagles as well."

You can see Garafolo's full comments below (starting around the 1:20 mark):

This isn't the first time that we've heard rumblings that the Eagles want Hurts to be a bit more vociferous as a leader, as a similar report surfaced back in December.

Overall, it just seems like the Eagles want Hurts to loosen up a little bit, both on and off of the field. While still largely productive and effective, Hurts looked robotic at times last season, and he didn't necessarily look like he was having consistent fun.

Philadelphia's offensive struggles under Johnson certainly could have contributed to Hurts' demeanor, and the hope within the organization is that the addition of Moore will help unlock Hurts and get him back to playing like he did during the 2022 season when he led the Eagles all the way to the Super Bowl.

There were a lot of issues with the Eagles this past season, and Hurts' play wasn't at the top of the list. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Hurts adapts his leadership style at all moving forward as the Birds look to bounce back from a disappointing season.

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