Last season the Philadelphia Eagles selected Jalen Hurts with their second-round selection in the NFL draft. Many felt present company included, that the team needed to find their current quarterback Carson Wentz some help in the passing game or protection upfront.
The team chose to go get a quarterback and it paid some dividends so to speak. Fast forward a calendar year, Wentz was shipped off to Indianapolis to be the Colts quarterback after Phillip Rivers retired.
In the 2021 NFL draft, the team didn’t address the quarterback position and instead drafted a former college teammate of Hurts from his time at Alabama, Devonta Smith. It was a clear indicator that the organization was giving the opportunity to Hurts to be the guy in Philadelphia.
"We wanna see him grab the job and kinda run with it"@Eagles EVP & GM Howie Roseman talks about the expectations for 2nd year QB Jalen Hurts
🔊LISTEN ⤵️I #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/v2SXrqbGrA
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) May 7, 2021
While on SiriusXM radio, Philadelphia Eagles Executive Vice President and general manager Howie Roseman was clear about what the expectation is for the former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback.
“You’re judging him of four NFL starts in an interesting situation with all the injuries that we had”, Roseman responded when asked about the future of Hurts. “We want to see him grab the job and kind of run with it and to see what you do with it over a period of time.”
“We want to be in a situation where we get as much information as possible, give him the best opportunity. Build that offensive line, give him the right weapons. Put him in a system that really maximizes his ability and then go from there.”
It feels like the years of letting a quarterback develop behind a veteran are long gone. Too often rookie quarterbacks are thrust into the fire and teams evaluate how they handle it. Teams are expected to win right away with a young quarterback on a team-friendly deal.
It just might be a make-or-break year for Jalen Hurts in 2021, regardless if that is truly fair to him or not.
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