Few players matter more to the trajectory of the Philadelphia Eagles franchise and the upcoming 2024 season than quarterback Jalen Hurts, especially given the backdrop of an offseason’s worth of change following a late-season collapse in 2023.
After backsliding from a 10-1 start to losing five of six games and eventually getting blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card round, the Eagles needed to make big changes.
To help rebuild Hurts, and his confidence after a season of discontent, the Eagles hired a new offensive coordinator, in Kellen Moore, to call the offense and work collaboratively with Hurts and went shopping at the top of the free agent market by coming away with All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley.
While it will be difficult to tell until well into the regular season whether Hurts can truly return to his level of play in 2022 that saw him finish second in MVP voting, first impressions of his performance during training camp have been overwhelmingly encouraging.
CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin lists Hurts as one of the most unstoppable players throughout the league this summer.
“It helps to have such a dynamic plethora of weapons at his disposal,” Benjamin points out for CBS. “With Saquon Barkley joining A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert in the Eagles’ offensive lineup. Still, Hurts has appeared noticeably more agile after a more mercurial, occasionally sluggish 2023 campaign. He’s also kept the ball out of harm’s way while pushing the ball downfield, reinfusing some hope in Philadelphia’s big-play attack.”
The Eagles have the pieces in place for Hurts to rebound in 2024, now it may come down to the star quarterback improving in a key area where he seemed to regress last season.
“He needs to stay healthy,” an NFL offensive coordinator told me recently. “When you can’t keep the defense honest with the designed quarterback runs, he gets limited in the dropback passing game. But, the overall offensive scheme should be better.”
Follow Matt Lombardo on Threads at @MattLombardoNFL. To read more of our articles and in-depth NFL coverage, click here.
