Getty Eagles QB Jalen Hurts has been electric in four starts, including a career-high day against Kansas City.
There was a brief moment last week when Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts shared an embrace at midfield. Players usually keep those conversations close to the vest, but the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback shared a portion of what the NFL MVP told him.
Hurts had just enjoyed arguably his best on-field performance, or at least the greatest one of his professional career. However, it came in a brutal 42-30 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. After the game, Mahomes whispered some encouragement into Hurts’ eager-to-listen ears.
“Keep on playing the way you’re playing, you know, keep ballin’, it’s going to come, it’s coming,'” Hurts told reporters when asked what Mahomes said to him. “But, obviously, training with him in the offseason and working with him and being able to build a relationship with him … I have a lot of respect for him, obviously, and I’ll see him again one day.”
On the NFL Today, CBS Sports @JasonLaCanfora reiterated the #Eagles prefer to use their first-round draft capital next year to build AROUND Jalen Hurts — despite a slow start to the year.
If that last part sounds like a threat, maybe it was. Hurts is a prideful player and he keeps reiterating how close the Eagles are to putting it all together. They are inches away – the distance between Hurts’ thumbnail and index finger – from getting back in the win column. It’s coming.
“This close, we’re coming,” Hurts said. “It’s going to click and when it does, it’s going to be real pretty.”
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Making Accurate Throws, Creating Plays
Rattling off the numbers from Week 4 is a torturous exercise. Why? Because, on paper, it looks like the Eagles won the game. Hurts threw for a career-high 387 yards and 32 completions while combining for 434 yards of total offense. More importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over and threw for the most passing yards since Nick Foles chucked it for 406 yards without an interception in 2013 (via Eagles stat guru John Gonoude).
Total Offense (NFL QBs in 2021)
1,333 . . . Tom Brady (TB)
1,325 . . . Jalen Hurts (@Eagles)
1,325 . . . Kyler Murray (Ari.)
Total Offense (NFL QBs – First 8 Career Starts)
2,603 . . . Cam Newton
2,591 . . . Patrick Mahomes
2,462 . . . Jalen Hurts
Head coach Nick Sirianni called it the top quarterback performance he’s ever seen. He’s been impressed with Hurts through the first four weeks, but not surprised. Remember, this is the guy he made compete for the job at training camp.
“What I love about how Jalen is playing is I think he’s playing the position of quarterback well, right? He’s making the right decisions with the football,” Sirianni told reporters. “He’s making accurate throws. When he needs to create, he’s creating. And he’s getting to where we want him to play.”
The next part of Hurts’ development centers on consistency. Stacking days as the cool kids say.
“I think he’s playing really good football and he’s turned himself into a good quarterback,” Sirianni said. “And so, we’re looking to just – but part of that is consistency. And we’ve just got to do that each and every week, so looking forward to the challenge we have this week with Jalen and with the Panthers.”
Most fantasy points by a QB in first 8 career starts:
Patrick Mahomes: 201.3
Deshaun Watson: 197.0
Cam Newton: 193.6
Jalen Hurts: 191.2 🔥
Justin Herbert: 190.9
These are the only 5 QBs to score 180+ fantasy points in their first 8 NFL starts
Le’Raven Clark Restored to Practice Squad
The Eagles made a minor roster move earlier this week when they restored Le’Raven Clark to the practice squad. The veteran swing tackle played in 47 regular-season games (15 starts) during a five-years run with the Indianapolis Colts. To make room on the roster, the team released linebacker Christian Elliss from the practice squad.