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The Philadelphia Eagles announced their inactives prior to Sunday’s kickoff, with Jalen Hurts leading the list. The rookie quarterback will back up Carson Wentz for the 12th straight week as Nate Sudfeld remained a healthy scratch.
The team also kept edge rusher Genard Avery inactive against the Green Bay Packers. Avery was activated from injured reserve on Nov. 30 after missing time with an elbow injury. He has 1.5 sacks and six quarterback hits in seven games.
Starting cornerback Darius Slay had been listed “questionable” on the final injury report but he’s good to go. Locked and loaded for his big matchup versus Davante Adams. The Eagles will be without safety Rudy Ford (hamstring) and receiver Quez Watkins (illness), while keeping rookie running back Jason Huntley and second-year receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside inactive.
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Will Hurts See Increased Role This Week?
The bigger question surrounding Hurts is whether he’ll see an increased workload this week. The dual-threat quarterback was rumored to be getting more offensive snaps last week but it never happened. There is also a report floating around that Wentz might get benched for Hurts if his struggles continue.
The decision to draft Hurts in the second round has been a hotly-debated topic in Philly. Head coach Doug Pederson addressed it earlier this week during his media availability.
“Every position is looked at and studied, and wherever we can help and add talent and depth, we’re going to do that,” Pederson told reporters while defending the pick. “The quarterback position is not exempt from that. This is a sport where there is only one quarterback that plays, and Carson is that player right now and we go to work. We continue to coach Jalen and get him prepared if he has to go in and play.”
Hurts has only seen 33 total offensive snaps in 2020, including three — two officially since one play was called back due to a false start penalty — last week versus the Seattle Seahawks.
“It’s kind of how our whole first quarter and a half went for us, just no rhythm,” Pederson said of not using Hurts more. “So, for me, would I like to get into a flow and use Jalen in a couple of situations? I think that’s feasible. It’s possible. It’s been productive for us.”
Private Conversations with Jeffrey Lurie
There has been speculation that Pederson doesn’t have full control over personnel decisions, particularly at the quarterback spot. Several unconfirmed reports indicated that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie gave a directive to increase Hurts’ snaps.
Lurie and GM Howie Roseman have also reportedly been putting pressure on Pederson to bench Wentz if results don’t improve. Pederson updated the status of his relationship with Lurie on Tuesday, saying it was “good” and the two have weekly conversations. He left the exact details of those talks private.
“Those conversations are private. I’m not going to get into that,” Pederson said. “This is not the time or the place to really get into those types of conversations.”
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