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When the season ended, the Philadelphia Eagles seemingly chose Carson Wentz over Pederson/Hurts. Then Wentz demanded a trade and here we are.
The Eagles say they are bringing in “competition” for Hurts at the starting QB position, definitely not a vote of confidence.
With the Eagles only getting a 3rd round pick this for Wentz and obviously fully rebuilding, they may draft a new QB and deal Hurts for a 2020 draft pick. With Wentz due to just begin his new contract extension this season, I suspect the Eagles were going to use Hurts as trade bait eventually anyways.
Here is a nice breakdown of 2020 Hurts:
Jalen Hurts Has Earned 2021 Starter Status
BY CIAN FAHEY
@QBDataMine
Jalen Hurts made an awful start in Arizona.
His first throw should have been intercepted.
His second throw resulted in a safety because of an intentional grounding penalty.
It wasn't the worst possible start because that first pass wasn't picked off. It's often worse to give up the safety than the turnover because there's the potential for double-jeopardy after the free kick. A safety giving up two points and possession means the offence might be two scores down when they next touch the ball. But from the quarterback's point of view it's not as emotionally impactful to take a safety as it is to throw a pick in your own area.
Safeties don't make you question yourself when you next drop back and try to read the coverage. Getting picked off does.
Hurts is going to have more bad moments before the season finishes. He's a rookie who wasn't drafted to be a Year 1 starter. He was put into the lineup very late in the season and he plays behind a bad offensive line. The mistakes don't really matter yet. They only matter if they maintain a presence through the rest of his career.
What matters right now is how Hurts responds to mistakes and the skillset he shows for the majority of four quarters. Even with this awful start and taking too many sacks throughout, Hurts came out of this game looking better than when he entered it.
Doug Pederson did a good job of easing his quarterback into the game after that rough start. He called three running plays on the next drive before using a bootleg for Sanders' first pass attempt. He set up a screen off that same bootleg look for his next throw, a play that gained 26 yards.
His first throw of significance was this out route to Jalen Reagor. Hurts showed off excellent timing. As soon as his back foot hits the top of his drop, he begins his throwing motion. This means the timing of the routes with the quarterback were perfectly in sync. This is how every play is supposed to work, even though it obviously can't always work exactly as designed.
Notably, Hurts hits his receiver in stride from the far hash with a defender lingering underneath in the passing lane. He has to control the trajectory of the ball while maintaining velocity through its journey.
This isn't a highlight play but it says a lot about Hurts' profile as a passer.
He hit a similar out route from the far hash against the blitz two plays later. This time he had to hit the outside shoulder of a receiver working against press coverage. Dallas Goedert, his tight end who began the play in the slot, worked upfield initially so Hurts had to hold the ball and time his release with the break of his route.
It's not a perfect throw because Goedert comes back to it rather than catching it while heading out over the sideline. This adjustment wasn't severe. It was a good throw, just not a perfect one.
The Cardinals could blitz and disguise their coverages as much as they wanted in this game. By building an early 16-0 lead, there was no real fear of Miles Sanders running the Eagles back into the game. They knew Hurts would have to carry the offence and they were going to attack the rookie as much as they possibly could.
As it turned out, that wasn't the best strategy.
Hurts showed his ability to beat blitzes over and over again. That prior out route came against the blitz and was preceded by this connection with Alshon Jeffery. Hurts throws the ball to the near side of the field this time so he can attack Patrick Peterson vertically.
Peterson struggled massively in this game. His reputation has always been greater than his ability but now that his athleticism is draining he's becoming a liability for the Cardinals secondary. Even the broken down body of Alshon Jeffery could get the better of him.
Jeffery is enticed upfield, encouraged to work through Peterson's presence by the ball carrying deeper down the sideline. Hurts' pass is perfect. It exploits the coverage Peterson played and doesn't lead Jeffery into the deeper safety. And Hurts makes that throw while releasing the ball so quickly that the blitz never factored into his pocket.
Pressure would factor into this drive before it ended though. After a failed run on first down put the offence in Second-and-20, the Eagles surprisingly sought out a shot for the endzone. They're specifically targeting Peterson but not with Jeffery. Having seen him struggle with Jeffery, they knew he couldn't run with Reagor.
Reagor runs a post route and beats Peterson by more than a step. Hurts has a wide-open touchdown throw. It's a very smart play design from the offence as they put the two slot receivers in a tight stack with a vertical release down the seam to occupy the safety on that side.
This would be an easy throw for Hurts except for the pressure that comes through the stunt on his left side.
He flinches just enough for the ball to float. That affords Peterson the opportunity to recover and knock it away. Hurts would get the touchdown pass on third down but did so on a screen. They relied on Isaiah Simmons to take himself out of position for that play to work.
If the Cardinals weren't so dead set on self-inflicted wounds, they'd be winning the NFC West at a canter right now. Instead, Simmons and company make those kinds of errors on defence all the time while Kyler Murray has proven to be too erratic in his second season. A fumble deep in his own territory set Hurts up for his second touchdown throw of the game.
Pederson's handling of Hurts has been very good so far. The coaching staff has incorporated him into running plays and encouraged him to take shots downfield while sparingly working the middle of the coverage. For this Fourth-and-3 play, they avoid asking Hurts to make a difficult coverage read or mitigate pressure behind a bad offensive line by rolling the pocket.
Peterson is again the target as he chases his receiver in the flat. Peterson's eyes are on Hurts who appears to be looking to the back of the endzone. His throw is on target for the back pylon receiver but is caught en route by Greg Ward.
Ward stayed alive in his route while Peterson was lost by the near pylon. There was no risk of this ball being picked off even if Hurts didn't hit the receiver he intended to hit.
It's possible he saw Ward and was purposely throwing to him too.
Down by 12 during the final two minutes of the first half, Hurts couldn't be conservative and just get to halftime. Pederson understood that too. The Cardinals blitzed on his first dropback and he beat it with a smart throw outside. As such, they only rushed four on the next play.
Ironically, that four-man rush generated more pressure than the five-man rush that preceded it. Hurts is forced to react to edge pressure at the top of his drop. He smartly steps forward and through the pocket to escape into the right flat before bringing his eyes up to scan his options downfield.
Zach Ertz smartly breaks to the sideline where there is space for Hurts to drop the ball into. He does so effectively despite throwing the ball deep on the move.
That 42-yard gain sets up a five-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ward. Hurts makes a good coverage read as Ward breaks to the sideline against man coverage. His pass is on time but slightly underthrown, forcing his receiver to make a spectacular catch going out over the sideline.
Ertz hasn't been fully healthy this season but he appears to be finishing the year strong. He added 27 more yards on this play when Hurts saw him come wide open down the right sideline. This was another self-inflicted wound for the Cardinals as Peterson plays man coverage while everyone else is in zone to create that wide-open space.
Most rookies will make plays when the defence doesn't challenge them in any way. Hurts made plays in this game when the defence executed perfectly too.
For this Third-and-1 conversion, the Cardinals anticipate Hurts keeping the ball. They blitz his right hand and successfully get a defender in the quarterback's face. Hurts doesn't panic. He lures the defender in by holding for a moment before making his move. A sharp plant on his outside foot at the last moment allows him to step past the first defender then connect on the throw outside.
The only mistake the Cardinals made here was not passing off the pick play outside. That gave Hurts' receiver the opportunity to get open but Hurts had to create his own opportunity to throw the ball.
For this Fourth-and-6 play, the Cardinals keep a safety deep and play man coverage underneath. The Eagles receivers run crossing routes and neither player settles in the middle of the field. This vacates the space over the middle, allowing Hurts to run through it for the first down and an extended gain after the first down line.
Hurts showed excellent patience to let this play develop here. It initially looked like the Cardinals were going to plug the middle with a fifth rusher but that defender trailed the running back in the flat. The defensive linemen stunted so when Hurts held for a moment in the pocket, they cleared to the outside and created the running lane for him to escape the pocket.
After a smart throw to force a defensive pass interference against Peterson down the right sideline, Hurts scrambled again for a seven-yard touchdown. He evaded the edge rusher in the pocket then used his strength to break a tackle before the endzone.
That was the key to Hurts' performance in this game. After the disastrous start and despite the sacks, he was showing balance with his ability to attack a defence both as a runner anda s a passer. He could create this touchdown out of nothing and then come back to convert a Thrid-and-7 on the next drive with a perfect throw to Ward on a crossing route.
Most running quarterbacks get labelled as narrow-skillset players. Hurts is a running quarterback who didn't go in the first round. But he passes just as well as he runs.
We're still a ways away from knowing just how good Hurts will be. But we already have an idea of how good he can be. You don't anoint rookie quarterbacks as anything after their rookie seasons. The quarterback who shared the field with him on Sunday is a great example of that, we still don't really know what Murray will be moving forward.
But assuming Doug Pederson keeps his job ahead of next season, Hurts should be given next season to fully examine if he can be the long-term starter. Carson Wentz won't be a quiet backup but he has no real argument to reclaim his starting spot at this point.
The Eagles say they are bringing in “competition” for Hurts at the starting QB position, definitely not a vote of confidence.
With the Eagles only getting a 3rd round pick this for Wentz and obviously fully rebuilding, they may draft a new QB and deal Hurts for a 2020 draft pick. With Wentz due to just begin his new contract extension this season, I suspect the Eagles were going to use Hurts as trade bait eventually anyways.
Here is a nice breakdown of 2020 Hurts:
Jalen Hurts Has Earned 2021 Starter Status
BY CIAN FAHEY
@QBDataMine
Jalen Hurts made an awful start in Arizona.
His first throw should have been intercepted.
His second throw resulted in a safety because of an intentional grounding penalty.
It wasn't the worst possible start because that first pass wasn't picked off. It's often worse to give up the safety than the turnover because there's the potential for double-jeopardy after the free kick. A safety giving up two points and possession means the offence might be two scores down when they next touch the ball. But from the quarterback's point of view it's not as emotionally impactful to take a safety as it is to throw a pick in your own area.
Safeties don't make you question yourself when you next drop back and try to read the coverage. Getting picked off does.
Hurts is going to have more bad moments before the season finishes. He's a rookie who wasn't drafted to be a Year 1 starter. He was put into the lineup very late in the season and he plays behind a bad offensive line. The mistakes don't really matter yet. They only matter if they maintain a presence through the rest of his career.
What matters right now is how Hurts responds to mistakes and the skillset he shows for the majority of four quarters. Even with this awful start and taking too many sacks throughout, Hurts came out of this game looking better than when he entered it.
Doug Pederson did a good job of easing his quarterback into the game after that rough start. He called three running plays on the next drive before using a bootleg for Sanders' first pass attempt. He set up a screen off that same bootleg look for his next throw, a play that gained 26 yards.
His first throw of significance was this out route to Jalen Reagor. Hurts showed off excellent timing. As soon as his back foot hits the top of his drop, he begins his throwing motion. This means the timing of the routes with the quarterback were perfectly in sync. This is how every play is supposed to work, even though it obviously can't always work exactly as designed.
Notably, Hurts hits his receiver in stride from the far hash with a defender lingering underneath in the passing lane. He has to control the trajectory of the ball while maintaining velocity through its journey.
This isn't a highlight play but it says a lot about Hurts' profile as a passer.
He hit a similar out route from the far hash against the blitz two plays later. This time he had to hit the outside shoulder of a receiver working against press coverage. Dallas Goedert, his tight end who began the play in the slot, worked upfield initially so Hurts had to hold the ball and time his release with the break of his route.
It's not a perfect throw because Goedert comes back to it rather than catching it while heading out over the sideline. This adjustment wasn't severe. It was a good throw, just not a perfect one.
The Cardinals could blitz and disguise their coverages as much as they wanted in this game. By building an early 16-0 lead, there was no real fear of Miles Sanders running the Eagles back into the game. They knew Hurts would have to carry the offence and they were going to attack the rookie as much as they possibly could.
As it turned out, that wasn't the best strategy.
Hurts showed his ability to beat blitzes over and over again. That prior out route came against the blitz and was preceded by this connection with Alshon Jeffery. Hurts throws the ball to the near side of the field this time so he can attack Patrick Peterson vertically.
Peterson struggled massively in this game. His reputation has always been greater than his ability but now that his athleticism is draining he's becoming a liability for the Cardinals secondary. Even the broken down body of Alshon Jeffery could get the better of him.
Jeffery is enticed upfield, encouraged to work through Peterson's presence by the ball carrying deeper down the sideline. Hurts' pass is perfect. It exploits the coverage Peterson played and doesn't lead Jeffery into the deeper safety. And Hurts makes that throw while releasing the ball so quickly that the blitz never factored into his pocket.
Pressure would factor into this drive before it ended though. After a failed run on first down put the offence in Second-and-20, the Eagles surprisingly sought out a shot for the endzone. They're specifically targeting Peterson but not with Jeffery. Having seen him struggle with Jeffery, they knew he couldn't run with Reagor.
Reagor runs a post route and beats Peterson by more than a step. Hurts has a wide-open touchdown throw. It's a very smart play design from the offence as they put the two slot receivers in a tight stack with a vertical release down the seam to occupy the safety on that side.
This would be an easy throw for Hurts except for the pressure that comes through the stunt on his left side.
He flinches just enough for the ball to float. That affords Peterson the opportunity to recover and knock it away. Hurts would get the touchdown pass on third down but did so on a screen. They relied on Isaiah Simmons to take himself out of position for that play to work.
If the Cardinals weren't so dead set on self-inflicted wounds, they'd be winning the NFC West at a canter right now. Instead, Simmons and company make those kinds of errors on defence all the time while Kyler Murray has proven to be too erratic in his second season. A fumble deep in his own territory set Hurts up for his second touchdown throw of the game.
Pederson's handling of Hurts has been very good so far. The coaching staff has incorporated him into running plays and encouraged him to take shots downfield while sparingly working the middle of the coverage. For this Fourth-and-3 play, they avoid asking Hurts to make a difficult coverage read or mitigate pressure behind a bad offensive line by rolling the pocket.
Peterson is again the target as he chases his receiver in the flat. Peterson's eyes are on Hurts who appears to be looking to the back of the endzone. His throw is on target for the back pylon receiver but is caught en route by Greg Ward.
Ward stayed alive in his route while Peterson was lost by the near pylon. There was no risk of this ball being picked off even if Hurts didn't hit the receiver he intended to hit.
It's possible he saw Ward and was purposely throwing to him too.
Down by 12 during the final two minutes of the first half, Hurts couldn't be conservative and just get to halftime. Pederson understood that too. The Cardinals blitzed on his first dropback and he beat it with a smart throw outside. As such, they only rushed four on the next play.
Ironically, that four-man rush generated more pressure than the five-man rush that preceded it. Hurts is forced to react to edge pressure at the top of his drop. He smartly steps forward and through the pocket to escape into the right flat before bringing his eyes up to scan his options downfield.
Zach Ertz smartly breaks to the sideline where there is space for Hurts to drop the ball into. He does so effectively despite throwing the ball deep on the move.
That 42-yard gain sets up a five-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ward. Hurts makes a good coverage read as Ward breaks to the sideline against man coverage. His pass is on time but slightly underthrown, forcing his receiver to make a spectacular catch going out over the sideline.
Ertz hasn't been fully healthy this season but he appears to be finishing the year strong. He added 27 more yards on this play when Hurts saw him come wide open down the right sideline. This was another self-inflicted wound for the Cardinals as Peterson plays man coverage while everyone else is in zone to create that wide-open space.
Most rookies will make plays when the defence doesn't challenge them in any way. Hurts made plays in this game when the defence executed perfectly too.
For this Third-and-1 conversion, the Cardinals anticipate Hurts keeping the ball. They blitz his right hand and successfully get a defender in the quarterback's face. Hurts doesn't panic. He lures the defender in by holding for a moment before making his move. A sharp plant on his outside foot at the last moment allows him to step past the first defender then connect on the throw outside.
The only mistake the Cardinals made here was not passing off the pick play outside. That gave Hurts' receiver the opportunity to get open but Hurts had to create his own opportunity to throw the ball.
For this Fourth-and-6 play, the Cardinals keep a safety deep and play man coverage underneath. The Eagles receivers run crossing routes and neither player settles in the middle of the field. This vacates the space over the middle, allowing Hurts to run through it for the first down and an extended gain after the first down line.
Hurts showed excellent patience to let this play develop here. It initially looked like the Cardinals were going to plug the middle with a fifth rusher but that defender trailed the running back in the flat. The defensive linemen stunted so when Hurts held for a moment in the pocket, they cleared to the outside and created the running lane for him to escape the pocket.
After a smart throw to force a defensive pass interference against Peterson down the right sideline, Hurts scrambled again for a seven-yard touchdown. He evaded the edge rusher in the pocket then used his strength to break a tackle before the endzone.
That was the key to Hurts' performance in this game. After the disastrous start and despite the sacks, he was showing balance with his ability to attack a defence both as a runner anda s a passer. He could create this touchdown out of nothing and then come back to convert a Thrid-and-7 on the next drive with a perfect throw to Ward on a crossing route.
Most running quarterbacks get labelled as narrow-skillset players. Hurts is a running quarterback who didn't go in the first round. But he passes just as well as he runs.
We're still a ways away from knowing just how good Hurts will be. But we already have an idea of how good he can be. You don't anoint rookie quarterbacks as anything after their rookie seasons. The quarterback who shared the field with him on Sunday is a great example of that, we still don't really know what Murray will be moving forward.
But assuming Doug Pederson keeps his job ahead of next season, Hurts should be given next season to fully examine if he can be the long-term starter. Carson Wentz won't be a quiet backup but he has no real argument to reclaim his starting spot at this point.
