DEVONTA SMITH RESPONDS TO THE NEGATIVITY SURROUNDING QB JALEN HURTS

By Victor Williams

March 24, 2022

 

As the dust begins to settle on what has been an unhinged NFL offseason, it’s looking more and more like Jalen Hurts will be leading the Eagles for the second consecutive season.

While a good portion of the fanbase hoped that GM Howie Roseman would trade for one of the available elite quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers ended up staying in Green Bay. At the same time, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson were sent to the AFC.

Barring an unexpected draft selection — which the Eagles have infamously done before — Hurts is poised to start for Philly in what may be his final chance to win over the franchise.

I’ve been vocal about my opinions on Hurts: he showed flashes in 2021 and should be afforded the opportunity to develop for another season:

His former Alabama teammate, DeVonta Smith, shares the same sentiment. The Eagles wide receiver recently spoke with Josh Tolentino of The Philadelphia Inquirer and gave his thoughts on the pessimism that currently surrounds his 23-year-old quarterback:

"He continues to come in every day knowing that people are going to talk about you, not everyone necessarily agrees with him being there as our starting quarterback,” Smith says. "But he tunes that noise out every day, and he constantly wants to make everyone around him better and make himself better. Like I can’t exaggerate how much he really wants to make us just go. Most people might shy away from that challenge.

"But that’s the type of people you want around you. He embraces it. He continues to come in and do everythan’ he can do. He’s not shy about his mistakes. That’s the type of quarterback you want. Just because there’s problems here and there, he ain’t neva’ goin’ to run from it. None of us are running from it.”

 

Does Hurts have work to do as a passer? Evidently. Will he do everything in his power to overcome those hurdles? Everyone knows he will.

The intangibles aren’t the issue with Jalen; it’s his sheer ability to read defenses, trust his receivers and get the ball out on time.

Those skills develop over time with more reps, and with just 19 starts to his name, there is obvious room for improvement. Whether the organization is patient enough to wait for progression is another conversation, but Hurts is the guy for at least the 2022 season.

https://thelibertyline.com/2022/03/24/devonta-smith-negativity-jalen-hurts/

He's a popular guy and I can see a reaction for this team next year. I can see them really fighting hard for Hurts because he is the kind of leader this team needs. Unfortunately he doesn't have the talent or at least it doesn't seem he does. 

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

He's a popular guy and I can see a reaction for this team next year. I can see them really fighting hard for Hurts because he is the kind of leader this team needs. Unfortunately he doesn't have the talent or at least it doesn't seem he does. 

We shall see ... huge year for him to prove himself one way or the other.  If we end the upcoming season with as many questions about him that we have now, guessing they'll look for an upgrade.  Gut says he makes some improvement in his game but not enough.  Hope he proves me wrong for a number of reasons.  

That's the problem here.  Hurts is a great guy, hard worker, good teammate, tries to improve and is a great running QB who can win games against teams with sub par QBs just with his legs.  That makes teammates overlook his below average QB skills, hoping he will improve.  If anyone can over come a weak arm, lousy accuracy, inability to see the field and read thru progressions, inability to look one way, hold the safety and quickly turn and throw accurately the other way to the right guy, it's Hurts.  Maybe a 25% chance he can overcome these deficiencies enough to be an above average to good starter.  I wouldn't bet on it though. We need to bring in another QB sooner rather than later.  The FO knows this.  They could trade down and get the kid from Cinn.  I'm sure they are vetting all draftable QBs and i imagine we take one.  Can't go wrong drafting a developmental guy with one of our 3 5th round picks to be the 3rd QB.

talk is cheap