Is Jalen Hurts Inching His Way Into a Starting Role With the Eagles?

The Philadelphia Eagles can be thankful they aren’t playing in front of any fans at home. Quarterback Carson Wentz has been dreadful. The defense has been porous. The team is 0-2. Jalen Hurts was drafted in the second round this year. Is it getting close to giving Hurts a chance to run the offense?

Jalen Hurts’ football career

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If anybody knows anything about losing a job quickly because of poor performance, it’s Jalen Hurts. It happened to the Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback back when he was a sophomore at Alabama. And it happened on the biggest stage in college football.

At halftime of the college football title game in January of 2018, Alabama coach Nick Saban made a change. With his team trailing Georgia 13-0, he brought in freshman Tua Tagovailoa to replace Hurts. Tagovailoa was the spark the Crimson Tide needed and he wound up throwing a touchdown pass in overtime to lift Alabama to a 26-23 victory.

After the season, Tagovailoa was named the starter for 2018 and Hurts was the backup. In 2019, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma, where he threw for 3,851 yards and 32 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,289 yards and 20 touchdowns. Hurts guided the Sooners to the College Football Playoff. He was selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft.

The Eagles are a mess

The Philadelphia Eagles weren’t expecting to be 0-2 heading into the 2020 season. Not many others expected them to be either. The Eagles blew a 17-0 lead in Week 1 to the Washington Football Team. Philadelphia was outscored 27-0 in the final 30:40 of the game. In Week 2, they dropped a 37-19 decision at home to the Los Angeles Rams.

The Eagles defense has surrendered an average of 32 points per game. NFL analyst Ryan Clark, however, said the offense has been the issue. On Monday morning’s edition of “Get Up,” Clark said quarterback Carson Wentz specifically was to blame.

“Carson Wentz’s play may be problematic but I believe he is the problem,” Clark said. ‘When you look at that game yesterday, they are down five with a good drive going in the third quarter with an opportunity to go up and that’s when he throws that interception. You go to week one, you’re up 17-0 with under two minutes to go in the first quarter, you throw an interception there, then you throw another one in the third quarter. These aren’t just mistakes we can look in a vacuum. Football is about situations. He is making bad situational decisions and that’s not a good thing for any quarterback whether he’s problematic or the problem.”

Is Jalen Hurts inching his way into a starting role?

After beginning the season as the third-string quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Hurts was elevated to No. 2 last week against the Los Angeles Rams. Although he didn’t play quarterback, Hurt got in as a decoy for three snaps.

“We felt this week with him up, it could give us an opportunity to possibly use him in those situations that we did, and obviously he went in, executed them well,” said Eagles coach Doug Pederson, according to ESPN. “It’s a starting point as something we’ll evaluate each week.”

Hurts will be looking to get more touches this week against the Cincinnati Bengals. If the Eagles struggle again on offense, don’t be surprised to Hurts playing a Taysom Hill-like role, getting some snaps from center. Hurts just might be inching his way into that starting role if Wentz continues to struggle.