When the Eagles took former Oklahoma and Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts with the 53rd overall pick, Philly fans — who are used to booing from generations of expertise in that department — were quick to raise their displeasure on social media. Yes, the Eagles did take TCU receiver Jalen Reagor in the first round, and Reagor is an ideal target in Doug Pederson’s West Coast-based offense.
But for this team to take a quarterback in the second round with other needs on the board? It did not go over well — especially when it’s obvious that Hurts, while he’s been productive and proficient against some of college football’s best defenses over the last few seasons, has some issues with reading the field and throwing with anticipation. He’s better than Carson Wentz’s recent backups, and Wentz has an obvious injury history, but still…
Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield, who wrote up our Top 11 quarterbacks list for this draft class, had Hurts as his sixth-ranked signal-caller.
“Hurts’ athleticism also is going to be a weapon at the next level,” Schofield wrote of Hurts, who completed 69.7% of his passes for the Sooners last season for 3,851 yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, adding 233 rushing attempts for 1,298 yards and 20 touchdowns. “While some compare him to Lamar Jackson, that comparison misses the mark. Where Jackson is a potential home-run hitter as a running back, with the ability to change direction on a dime and make people miss in the open field, Hurts plays the position more like a running back, who is just as likely to run you over in space than he is to juke you in the open field.”
On the downside?
“His ball placement can be erratic at times, even on some of the shorter route concepts in the playbook,” Schofield continued. “His mechanics are a question, as he showed an elongated windup to his release on film. To his credit, that was cleaned up first for the Senior Bowl and then later for the combine, where his throwing session was impressive. Hurts is also very much a see it, throw it passer right now, and he will need to really learn how to anticipate throwing windows and how to throw receivers open in the NFL. Hurts also has a tendency to rely on his athleticism, vacating clean pockets and dropping his eyes when pressured quicker than other passers in this class.”
Here, Mark broke down two of Hurts’ 2019 plays in detail for Matt Waldman’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio. It’s a good, reasoned look at Hurts’ attributes and liabilities — a nice potential balm for Eagles fans may be wondering what the heck their team is doing.