In late October, when the Philadelphia Eagles were hosting a private meeting with a local program for at-risk youth, general manager Howie Roseman took time to sit down and speak to the gathering. The organization in attendance was Youth Mentoring Partnership, which aims to connect young members of the Pennsylvania community with local mentors who can provide guidance on a wide spectrum of life frontiers, from scholastic and physical fitness to mental health, career tutelage and social engagement.
One of the group’s “pillars” is to create goals. That’s part of what Roseman chose to focus on while speaking to attendees.
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“Setting goals gives you a clear picture of where you want to go,” Roseman told the group. “You may not get there in a straight line — everyone makes mistakes — but what matters is how you grow and the lessons you carry forward.”
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It’s a message Roseman has shared many times and in many ways while leading the Eagles. That wisdom has been earned in all manner of decisions — from making or refusing to make a coaching change, bringing in challenging players or letting go of key pieces of the team, winning and losing Super Bowls and, perhaps most importantly, surviving the journey through the highs and lows that weave from one decision to the next. Through it all, Roseman often takes a line that is rarely straight.
This is what I think about when it comes to this week’s furor surrounding quarterback Jalen Hurts, which feels like it has reached a crescendo of knee-jerk reactions over the past month, from being vehemently booed by Eagles fans at Lincoln Financial Field, to sports talk radio fodder about benching Hurts for backup Tanner McKee, to national talk show conversations about whether Hurts could even be traded by the franchise this offseason.
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Even for a Philadelphia fan base that runs notoriously hot and cold — not to mention a media contingent that can quickly trade pens and pencils for axes and knives — this has gotten off the rails.
Before we get into that end of it, consider that Roseman has been with the Eagles for 26 years. He saw the abyss of quarterbacks that occurred between the height of Donovan McNabb and the positioning of Hurts as the team’s long-term franchise QB. There was a void that included all manner of attempts at finding a Super Bowl-winning star at the position — from trades, to signings, to engineering an aggressive draft maneuver to land Carson Wentz.
Finding a legitimate winning quarterback who can either lead a team or follow it to success consistently is a cruel and anxiety-ridden process. When a resolution that proves it’s an answer and not just a stopgap, you stick with it through thick and thin. That’s what Hurts represents to Roseman. He proved it when he lost in the Super Bowl following the 2022 season and then clawed his way back alongside Roseman’s 2024 creation and captured both the Lombardi and the game’s MVP honors.
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With all of that in mind, I don’t see Roseman risking going back into a quarterback abyss just because there are problems right now with both Hurts and the Eagles’ offense. If anything, it’s more likely Roseman would work another extension with Hurts that could create some more salary cap space rather than trading him and throwing a grenade into his current cap table.
Jalen Hurts, who put up a stinker on Monday night against the Chargers, will look to rebound Sunday against the Raiders. (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
(Brooke Sutton via Getty Images)
Here’s where things are at on the field: Yes, Philadelphia’s offense is struggling and Hurts is coming off a turnover-laden loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the team’s third defeat in a row. And yes, there’s some late-season slippage here that understandably creates white-knuckling in the fan base, with reminders of the catastrophic end to a disappointing 2023 season. But everything that is happening now isn’t simply a function of Hurts’ limitations as a passer. And this isn’t 2023, because the Eagles’ defense and special teams are playing at a level that could win a Super Bowl if each was properly complemented with an offense.
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Let’s tick down the list on offense, shall we? First, the line, which has been the bone marrow of everything that has made the Eagles great since Hurts was paired with head coach Nick Sirianni, isn’t right. From right tackle Lane Johnson to right guard Landon Dickerson and center Cam Jurgens, the offensive line’s performance has been undercut by nagging injuries all season. That includes key backup offensive tackle Myles Hinton, who has been on injured reserve since August and is only now nearing return.
The reality of the line being hobbled for much of the season has exasperated issues with running back Saquon Barkley, who came into this season already carrying over a massive spate of usage last season, which topped out at 482 touches in the regular season and playoffs. Be it the line’s performance or sheer fatigue — and it could be both — Barkley’s decline in efficiency and explosives has had an impact on Hurts, too, both in terms of how the scheme has been called and how defenses have approached the Eagles. And inside of all of that, you have offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who is in his first season of calling plays.
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That’s a lot of moving parts. And they’re all moving around the quarterback, who is now being pointed at as the crux of the problems.
Mind you, none of this is meant to absolve Hurts’ hand in this. He bares his own percentage of responsibility, from his limitations when it comes to throwing in the middle of the field or anticipating open windows before they develop, to his sometimes-curious rhythms with No. 1 wideout A.J. Brown. But even Brown — who has showcased frustration with the offense multiple times this season — gave Hurts some grace coming out of the loss against the Chargers, a game that saw the quarterback turn the ball over five times, including a forced throw into traffic in overtime that ended the game with an interception.
“I think all of us have a hand in that pocket,” Brown said of Hurts’ turnover spike. “We are trying to get better. Obviously as the quarterback, he’s going to get a lot of stuff for it. But we in this thing together. Like today, that [interception] across the middle, I’m more than capable of making that catch. You can’t put that on him. He was under pressure and it ain’t gonna be perfect.”
That theme hasn’t played well in Philadelphia this week, but Brown is right.
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And you can take it a little further too: Hurts is 27 years old and this weekend’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders will be his 100th, including 88 previous starts split between the regular season and playoffs. He is what he is at this point, and his limitations are what they are. Unless the Eagles suddenly have the inclination to turn the clock back to 2022 and make him more of a consistent dual threat quarterback again, the skill set has been cemented. Of course, the Eagles have long recognized that Hurts running the football is both a dangerous and depreciating asset, which is why they paid Barkley to come in be the spine of the rushing attack.
This doesn’t mean the offense can’t improve, of course. Greg Cosell, one of the best game film analysts orbiting the NFL for the 40+ years, said this week on his “Inside the Tape” podcast that what he saw from Hurts against the Chargers was actually encouraging for the Eagles.
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“[They had] four strong concepts, they had flood concepts — they had concepts,” Cosell said. “They had concepts that present defined reads and throws for the quarterback. It was the best game of the season in terms of what they did in the pass game from a concepts standpoint.”
If Cosell is right — and I don’t know him to be wrong when it comes to what he’s seeing on tape and measuring against the rest of the league — it signals there are some signs of expansion ahead. Signs that as the game is called, Hurts may be doing more rather than less. Unfortunately that happened in the teeth of a rough loss that triggered the fan base and brought out Hurts’ critics in droves.
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Go back to Roseman’s words and focus it in that light. Mistakes will be made. How you grow from them is what matters. The line to success isn’t always straight. That’s the kind of message that has typified Hurts’ entire football career. And when this season draws to a close, it’s likely 2025 won’t be any different.
