Getty Former Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz.
Carson Wentz isn’t the only player on the hot seat in Philly right now. The furnace is getting hotter at left tackle where Jason Peters continues to struggle. The future Hall of Famer was constantly beaten off the edge on Sunday versus Cleveland and earned a career-low grade.
According to Pro Football Focus, Peters allowed three sacks, three quarterback hits, seven pressures for a 41.0 grade. The 38-year-old has now surrendered six total sacks on 407 offensive snaps in 2020 to rank 53rd among qualifying tackles. One of the sacks he gave up in Week 11 led to a safety after Olivier Vernon bull-rushed the nine-time Pro Bowler for an easy two points. It’s clear the Eagles should move on from Peters and hand the starting job to Jordan Mailata.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson told reporters on Monday he had no intention to replace Peters at left tackle. “He’s our left tackle moving forward.” Ditto for Wentz at quarterback.
Peters was bad on Sunday but the whole offensive line has struggled, too. They lost All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson (41 snaps) due to a new shoulder injury, plus saw All-Pro center Jason Kelce (64 snaps) leave the field for four snaps. Peters (47 snaps) also jogged off and Mailata finished the game. Wentz has now been sacked a league-leading 35 times while being under pressure on 40% of his dropbacks. The Eagles have cycled through 11 different offensive line combinations this year.
Jason Peters allowed 3 sacks, 3 hits and 7 pressures yesterday.
Dude got thrashed all game long.
“It’s hard to get that continuity and that consistency upfront,” Pederson told reporters after the game. “It’s a challenge. The thing with the O-line is they rely on each other, right? The more they play together, the more they anticipate what a defense might present. Any time you have as many moving pieces as we’ve had, it throws that rhythm out.”
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Jalen Hurts ‘Contender’ for ‘Elite Quarterback’
Speaking of Pro Football Focus, the website praised the Eagles selection of Jalen Hurts in the second round back in April. They called it a “great pick” and referred to the dual-threat quarterback as a “rich man’s Taysom Hill.”
In fact, they ranked Hurts as the second-highest quarterback prospect in the 2020 draft in between Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa. As the debate rages over whether to bench starter Carson Wentz, it’s interesting to look back at their assessment and NFL comparisons:
The combination of Hurts’ extensive history as a starter, eye-popping stats and strong grades led a number of different models to conclude that Hurts had the upside to be an elite quarterback. Our college-to-pro forecasts have Hurts as the second-highest projected quarterback, below only Joe Burrow and above Tua Tagovailoa. Our text-analytics on the 2020 quarterback class, which harnessed years of Dane Brugler’s scouting reports, found that Hurts’ closest comps were Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield. Three No. 1 overall picks, a No. 2 overall pick and one of the top three best young quarterbacks in the NFL.
“With Jalen Hurts, he has a unique skill set,” Pederson said on draft night. “It’s just something we’re going to explore. I want to make a point here first and foremost that Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback, and he was drafted as a quarterback and he’s a quarterback first, but he has a unique skill set that he’s a great runner. Obviously, he throws well on the run.”
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Eagles Announce Starting Tackle, Jalen Hurts Called ‘Elite’