Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts. Biggest Weakness: Coming Off His First Read. Hurts and the Eagles didn’t look like the Super Bowl contenders we saw in 2022, as age, coordinator turnover and inconsistent play hampered the team all year. Hurts wasn’t bad by any means in 2023 — and, in fact, was still a good quarterback — but he struggled when forced off his initial read. He earned a 66.7 PFF grade and generated a 36.4% success rate in said situations. Over the past two years, his 90.1 PFF grade when throwing to his first read ranks fifth in the NFL.
12 practices in the books and still zero (0) interceptions thrown by the Eagles’ starting quarterback. Seems pretty good! Hurts did put the ball in harm’s way once today. The Patriots were close to coming up with a pick on a ball that was thrown to Dallas Goedert in traffic. That’s just the third time this summer I can recall Hurts nearly turning the ball over. The other two: Kelee Ringo failing to catch a pass thrown right at him early in camp and then Bryce Huff dropping a pick after dropping into a coverage (and likely confusing Hurts?) during the open practice at Lincoln Financial Field. It’s a good thing when the mistakes are so few that they vividly stand out. Getting back to the positive, Hurts had success targeting A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith over and over and over in this practice. There just wasn’t much the Patriots could do to stop those connections. The ball barely touched the ground in team drills, especially early on. Some of Hurts’ flashiest completions included a deep ball to DeVonta for a touchdown with Kyle Dugger trailing and a throw dropped right in the bucket for Saquon Barkley to make an over-the-shoulder touchdown catch in stride on the wheel route with Matthew Judon trailing. Much less flashy but still very critical: Hurts’ comfort level scanning the entire field, going through his reads, and then decisively checking down to the open receiver. This outcome is much preferable to him regularly holding onto the ball for an eternity and then drifting out of the pocket only to throw it away or take off running. Obviously, there are times when it makes sense for Hurts to extend the play and try to make something happen. But sometimes it’s important to not force the issue, take what the defense is giving, and get to the next play.
