Jalen Hurts injected some much-needed life into the Philadelphia Eagles when he made his first extended appearance at quarterback in Week 13 of the 2020 season against the Green Bay Packers. He gave them even more fuel the following week, picking up a very unlikely win over the New Orleans Saints. And while it's true that the rest of his rookie campaign had its ups and downs, it's also fair to say that Hurts did nothing but bring positive energy to the Eagles both on the field and off it.
It appears that this trend has followed him into 2021. Though the offense has looked pretty rough at times throughout the preseason — especially against the Eagles' defense, which may not be a bad thing — the team's first taste of head-to-head action against the Pittsburgh Steelers brought a fair share of optimistic feedback regarding the second-year signal-caller. Sure, his performance wasn't perfect, but it was better than a lot of the QB play fans had grown used to watching throughout the dismal 2020 campaign. Better still, in Monday's joint practice with the Patriots, Hurts was playing as well as ever. According to 94WIP reporter Eliot Shorr-Parks, Hurts was 16-17 with a touchdown and zero interceptions in 11 vs. 11 — and his lone incompletion was a drop.
At this point, whether or not those in the Eagles fan base are in sync with their feelings toward Hurts, it's becoming more and more clear that his teammates are. According to ESPN NFL insider Jordan Schultz, there's a "fast-growing sentiment... that Jalen Hurts is undoubtedly the franchise QB."
Hurts has not yet been named the starting quarterback for Week 1 by new head coach Nick Sirianni, but that seems more like a formality than a real decision at this point. In fact, Sirianni took it upon himself to mention that Hurts played even better than he had originally thought in Thursday's preseason action against Pittsburgh.
"Gosh," Sirianni said Saturday (via Josh Tolentino of The Philadelphia Inquirer). "I thought he played better than I even thought when I got into the room on Thursday night. I just thought he was in complete command of the offense.
"Great command of the offense. Great checks. Was really pleased with the way he played. There’s one or two [plays] that I’m like, ‘Ah, I wanted you to step up and rip it back to the back side.’ But, we’re learning from that."
Should Hurts be able to keep this positive momentum going throughout the practices and games that fill out the remainder of the postseason, perhaps the fan base will begin to "undoubtedly" think of him as the franchise QB as well. However, the pessimist (realist?) in me says that the regular season will hold the answers to that key question.
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