Eagles News: Jalen Hurts among biggest NFC East X-factors

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Biggest X-factors on offense for each of the NFC East teams - Blogging The Boys
Philadelphia Eagles - Jalen Hurts. Talk about having the weight of a city on your shoulders. For Hurts, last season was filled with ups and downs as he learned what it’s like to start in the NFL. This season the reigns have been passed to him with the Eagles trading Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts. Hurts must now prove to himself. and his teammates. that the Eagles taking him in the second round in 2020 was a smart investment. They’ve given him another weapon to use in first-round pick Devonta Smith out of Alabama, but it will be on Hurts to make sure he gets the ball and while limiting his own turnovers. If he’s able to do that then his dual-threat ability will make him a very dangerous opponent in the future for the Cowboys and the rest of the NFC East.

Can Nick Sirianni get the most out of Jalen Hurts? - BGN
Can a coaching change breathe new life into an offense full of young players who weren’t getting results? That question presents two questions: Can Nick Sirianni improve Jalen Hurts? The Eagles should be in prime position to draft a QB in the 2022 draft, either through merit with a top pick or with several valuable picks to trade. Fair or not, this could be a make or break year for Hurts. Can Nick Sirianni improve the Eagles offense? Hurts could stink and the Eagles offense could still improve, they were that bad last year. The 2020 Eagles had the league’s worst sack rate, yards per attempt, completion percentage, and the second worst turnover rate and scoring rate. The Eagles were 26th in points, 24th in yards, 28th in passing yards, 24th in passing touchdowns, and next to last in interceptions. It was broken in about every way, it won’t take much for even modest improvement.

Above the Nest with Raichele #15: Jalen Hurts left off Top 40 QB ranking + Eagles should’ve brought back the Kelly Green uniforms - BGN Radio
Raichele Privette kicks off the episode sharing her thoughts on Chris Simms’ Top-40 Quarterback rankings. Later in the episode, she touches on the NFL’s decision to approve alternate helmets beginning in 2022 and DeVonta Smith’s heartwarming gesture.

10 reasons the Eagles will be a dumpster fire this season - PhillyVoice
Just before the start of the 2019 season, we analyzed the Eagles’ rapidly aging roster, and warned that the team was running the risk of needing to undergo a major rebuild in a few years if they didn’t change their strategic pattern of signing and trading for older players for short-term gains, while continually making a low number of draft picks. If a dope like me could see it, how could the team miss it? As it turned out, again, very predictably, the roster got old, expensive, bad, and boring, leading to one of the worst seasons in franchise history in 2020. Anyway, I guess I just went a really long way here to say that the people responsible for the downfall of the team over the last three years are still in charge.

JaCoby Stevens - Iggles Blitz
Drew Boylhart writes for The Huddle Report and has covered the draft for decades. He loved Stevens. I mean…he LOVED Stevens. “Jacoby is a leader on the field and something tells me he is a leader in the locker room also. Although Jacoby has excellent athletic talent and size, what makes him stand out in my mind is his leadership, character, and high football IQ to play more than one position on defense and act as a coach on the field. On film, it looks to me that Jacoby has the ability to be a franchise defensive player, the kind of player you build your defense around.” And “As of this writing, JaCoby is listed as the 151st player, on Rob’s draft board, so it is obvious that I am not only out on a limb with this profile but I’m bending that limb just inches away from breaking it right now. I’m telling you JaCoby is a top ten pick in this draft while the rest of the Draft World is suggesting that he will be lucky if he is even selected.” Wow. Drew has watched a lot of football and he knows his stuff. This isn’t some young guy making a bold claim to get attention. Drew legitimately feels this way. I’m not on that limb with him, but I’m fascinated at his take. He sees a player that could turn into something special. I see all the pieces of the puzzle, but can’t put them together. I don’t know what to expect from Stevens.

Checking in on the NFC East: Who is favored to challenge the Cowboys for division crown? - The Athletic
It certainly happened fast in Philadelphia as they wondered about Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz “running the East” for 5-10 years after they won the 2017 Super Bowl, but the rise and fall of power in this sport is so much quicker than sports radio can ever imagine. The purge of veterans was not quite what was forecasted, but the Eagles did try to turn a major page on offense as they found a taker for Wentz after the firing of Pederson and now turn the reins over completely to Jalen Hurts to find out if he can be a true QB1 or if they have to use one of their precious 2022 draft assets to go invest in that position again. Coach Nick Sirianni and his two new coordinators will probably enjoy a year similar to Joe Judge last year, where this is a true-foundation pouring year offensively with a very young group of skill players, speed, and then hopes of getting a healthy year from the offensive line to give it all a chance. Defensively, it will still be a stout defensive line with familiar names (and one rival newcomer) and focus on the back seven on the defense being an exercise in finding pieces for the future when this team is “ready to win again”, but that probably won’t be in big numbers this year. They have the worst odds to win this division and have not shown indications this season that they aspire to do so. This is a “find out what we have” year for Sirianni and after years of trying to compete for it all, this should be a regroup season.

Updating Eagles’ cap situation after Mullens, Rodgers signings - NBCSP
Once Dickerson is signed, he’ll be one of the top 51 contracts in the offseason, which means one contract worth $850K will no longer count toward the cap, a difference of $723,943. That means that once Dickerson signs, the Eagles will have $4,251,828 in available cap space. If the Eagles don’t use that cap space this year, it simply rolls over to next season. But $4 million in cap space is more than enough money to sign another player (a cornerback, maybe) if they choose. And there’s also the possibility that the Eagles trade or cut Zach Ertz. Doing so would free up around another $8.5 million in cap space.

NFL coaches on hot seat entering 2021 season: Matt Nagy, Mike McCarthy among nine coaches feeling the heat - CBS Sports
Mike McCarthy. This is the perfect storm. An owner who believes his team is worthy of the Super Bowl every year (since he handpicked the roster), and one who knows he doesn’t have so many bites at the Lombardi apple left. Dak Prescott is back from injury and making $40M a year now and McCarthy’s stable of skill guys on offense runs deep. His scheme was in question at the time of the his hire a year ago, and this division has often been the worst in football. Another year anything close to 2020, and this could be a two-and-done.

Big Blue View mailbag: 2011 Super Bowl, Nate Ebner, more - Big Blue View
The Giants should not have won the Super Bowl that year. They were not the most talented team. But, they did. They had a relentless will, a relentless belief that carried them. [BLG Note: Really just the luckiest Super Bowl run I’ve ever seen].

Marquise Goodwin doesn’t qualify for long jump finals at Olympic Trials - PFT
Bears wide receiver Marquise Goodwin will not be going to the Summer Olympics for a second time. Goodwin failed to qualify for the finals in the long jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon on Friday. Goodwin finished 19th among 24 participants in the qualifying round and only the top 12 jumpers move on to Sunday’s final.

The NFL’s concussion settlement marginalizes Black athletes - SB Nation
The NFL has found itself in a lawsuit coming from retired Black athletes, who claim that the administration of the league’s concussion settlement discriminates against Black athletes. Former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport claim that the testing automatically assumed Black players’ cognitive test scores were lower, making them ineligible for the money owed to them, in a concept known as “race-norming.” The lawsuit was settled with over $1 billion going to the former players. The news of the lawsuit came with outcries of shock and surprise at a league that could do something so outrageously racist it would make George Wallace shudder. However, I wasn’t as shocked as I was disappointed.

The Look Ahead #42: Re-drafting 2021 using the NBA lottery system - The SB Nation NFL Show
Rob “Stats” Guerrera, RJ Ochoa, and Kate Magdziuk use the NBA’s lottery formula to reorder the first 14 picks of the 2021 draft. How differently would things have turned out?

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