Eagles officially name Jalen Hurts starting QB for 2021 season: 'He's earned that right'

[time2rock]

Eagles officially name Jalen Hurts starting QB for 2021 season: 'He's earned that right'

 

The second-year signal-caller was the only QB to get first-team reps this offseason

 

By Cody Benjamin

 

13 hrs ago2 min read

 

 

 

 

After trading former MVP candidate Carson Wentz this offseason, the Eagles refused to commit to any one successor at quarterback. First, they were linked to top draft prospects. Then they were linked to the Texans' Deshaun Watson. Even after reserving first-team practice reps for second-year man Jalen Hurts, the new staff never jumped at the chance to crown the former second-rounder as QB1. On Tuesday, that changed. Addressing reporters ahead of the club's Sept. 12 opener, coach Nick Sirianni officially named Hurts the Eagles' 2021 starter, saying the Oklahoma product "earned that right" with a strong summer.

"Really nobody else got any reps with the ones," Sirianni said, "and Jalen has known, 'Hey, nobody else has gotten any reps with the ones but me,' and Jalen is our starter. He's done a great job. We wanted him to take advantage of the opportunity and take the reins with ... the opportunity that he got, and we feel like the preseason that he had, he did that."

Sirianni talked up competition at every position on the Eagles' shuffled roster, including QB, but never indicated throughout the offseason that anyone was in a position to take Hurts' presumptive job. The team added former longtime Ravens starter Joe Flacco on a one-year deal as the new No. 2, and just recently traded a late-round draft pick to the Jaguars for Gardner Minshew, but general manager Howie Roseman told reporters Tuesday that both Minshew and Flacco will sit behind Hurts to open the year.

"We had a chance to talk to Jalen [Hurts] and to Joe, too, and tell them that we thought it was an opportunity to get a good player, a good person at an important position," Roseman said of Minshew, "and certainly Jalen had an excellent preseason and continued to get better, and Joe was really impressive during the preseason and during camp as a whole."

Sirianni, for what it's worth, added that he saw a marked improvement in Hurts from the start of camp until the end of the preseason, during which the former Alabama standout played minimally.

"I consistently saw a player that got better every single day," he said. "I consistently saw a player make the read, getting better with his reads and his accuracy and his ability to run and when not to run ... He did exactly what we wanted him to do. Again, nobody else has worked with the ones, so you could really argue that we named a starter a while ago. Jalen will be our starter, and he's earned that right with a great preseason, and we've got a lot of confidence in him and in that room in general."

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2021-nfl-roster-cuts-our-32-takeaways-include-cam-newtons-surprising-release-key-trades-and-more/

[PoconoDon]

Let's hope beyond hope that everything clicks for him this year, and his inaccuracy becomes a thing of the past.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I mean Sirianni preaches competition but was this ever really a competition? All felt a little bit fake to me on this one. Hurts was always going to be the starter. The only QB comp now is who will be the back up? Week one Flacco but now long until Minshew is knocking on the door?

[nipples]

On 9/9/2021 at 2:48 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I mean Sirianni preaches competition but was this ever really a competition? All felt a little bit fake to me on this one. Hurts was always going to be the starter. The only QB comp now is who will be the back up? Week one Flacco but now long until Minshew is knocking on the door?

I see it being Flacco as the #2 on game days. He’ll step in if there’s (knock on wood) and injury to finish out the game. I think if Hurts has to be out for multiple weeks, however, Minchew will get those starts.