Christian Lucia
As many people know, the song Dreams and Nightmares became a staple for the 2017 Eagles run to a championship. It became what Legos are for kids 1-99. That year was capped of with a glorious run to the promise land. It was a team built with grit, hustle, and ‘next man up’ mentality. It had leaders, role players, and savvy veterans that did what they were supposed to do every time they touched the field. However, I am not talking about the 2017 Eagles. I’m here to talk about the team run by Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts who has been given the weapons to succeed, Jalen Hurts who the team used a second round pick on to continue the ‘quarterback factory,’ and ultimately Jalen Hurts, a player that took this team to a playoff game.
As confusing as the title may be, this is to show the dream-case scenario of Hurts as well as the nightmare-case scenario. Of course we can automatically go to worse case scenario, and just assume that he does not have the job next year but there are far reaching complications behind that. Personally, I’m not a Hurts fan; I wasn’t in college and still am not in the NFL. But, I will root for him as long as he is wearing midnight green. The player himself is a winner; the questions are the athleticism behind the player.
Talking to some of my co-hosts on Phired Up, we came to a crossroad’s. What is a dream year for Jalen Hurts? Is it taking them for a deeper run in the playoffs? Is it correcting his deep passes and accuracy? Or is it just his overall body of work? From my point of view, Hurts needs to become a better passer. Coach Sirianni did a nice job last year hiding Hurts flaws by relying heavily on the running game. There were even some games that the safeties were basically a fifth linebacker in the box because they knew his arm couldn’t beat them.
Hurts knew this was an issue and requested Tom House (QB guru) to help him with his mechanics. Tom House has been known to help many QB’s take that next step as he has worked with Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and yes… Carson Wentz from 2016-2017 when he made that huge jump. Hurts even reached out to Tom Brady to further his development. The good thing about Hurts is that the man likes to be coached up. He likes feedback whether it’s positive or negative and you could see he applied it in his game last year. My dream for Jalen would be for him to have a 1,000-yard receiver and take the pressure off of himself. Hurts proved last year that he is a one read and go guy. While that can work in college, it will not play in the NFL where linebackers and safeties are paid millions to make the right play.
Another dream come true would be for the team to not only makes it to the playoffs but to win the NFC East. The team is in place, the weapons are there offensively and defensively. Let’s allow the guy be electric. Obviously Nick Saban, Lincoln Riley, and Howie Roseman all saw something in the player. It’s the same thing that I think I see in the player. He commands the locker room, people want to play for him, he holds himself accountable to bad plays, and wants the team to grow with him. This is what we need him to continue to do. Payton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and Drew Brees were not built in one night. They had the intangibles but even myself personally, I need to hold myself accountable to giving this guy a chance.
I just did a beautiful job of talking about all of the nice things that Hurts brings. Time for me to bring out true Philadelphia self and talk about a nightmare situation. This whole thing can go left quickly. If Hurts doesn’t show up ready and can’t make the plays down the field, he is going to lose this fan base quick. You have to have thick skin to play in the NFL, but you basically have to have Teflon to play in Philadelphia. It can turn into a nightmare situation where the ownership and management team might be forced to give up on this player if he can’t produce right away (think Joe Giriardi).
The other nightmare would be the fact that they paid AJ Brown $100 million because they knew they were friends and wanted this to work. With Hurts not being the answer, does the relationship with Brown go sour? Does the locker room start to break down due to the fact that you gave up on a guy? This would hurt some of the rookies and second year players to be in a locker room at wits ends. What happens when Jalen gets benched and the team isn’t winning. Are the players calling for Nick’s seat?
The final thing would be to find the next QB. We built our team around the fact that we believe in Hurts. The Organization put their pockets and faith in this being ‘the guy.’ My true fear is that he just becomes a run of the mill 14th or 15th best QB that you have to pay. He becomes the next Jimmy G or Alex Smith where they are just good enough to get you there but will never help you raise the trophy. Now we would be stuck at phase one again. Phase one is drafting the right guy… who is the right guy though?
If it’s an RPO system that we try to run, Will Levis would be nice to have. If it were a traditional ‘stand in the pocket,’ Tyler Van Dyke would be nice. But if it’s a QB who is mobile and can break contain it would be Stroud or Young. The issue is that the Eagles defense and rushing attack will keep them in games and possibly win games. This means packaging 2 picks to move up to get your guy. This hurts your draft plan and capital.
Jalen Hurts is a man of mystery this year. However, he has the entire team and city cheering for him. If he can play well, he will forever win this fan base over. You couldn’t say a bad word about the man in the city. Play more like he did last year and people will start to get tired of the player. Play worse than you did last year you cause a situation where everyone loses. Hurts so good, c’mon baby, make it Hurt so good! No matter how I feel about the player, I will be cheering him on September 11th when he walks out there against the Lions.
As always, Go Bird!
