When it comes to Jalen Hurts, all Eagles fans can do is wait

Derrick Gunn knows his stuff.

Although he’s no longer the Eagles beat reporter for NBC Sports Philadelphia, the Gunner is as plugged into the inner workings of the Birds as anyone else, so when he says something, Eagles fans take notice.

During a recent appearance on JAKIB Media’s Sports Take alongside Rob Ellis and Barrett Brooks, Gunn recounted a particularly bad OTA practice Jalen Hurts reportedly had and said team officials are “not very comfortable right now” with him as their starting quarterback.

Obviously, those are not words any fan wants to hear about the man who will hopefully start 17 games for them this season. To hear that team officials do not like what they have seen so far this summer is concerning.

But it should not send anyone into a panic.

Off-season practices are what they are, and taking a snippet from one of them and projecting that onto what he will do after a full summer and training camp of repetitions is simply spinning tires. Very little of what we see over the next couple months is indicative of what will happen once the gun sounds on Week 1, unless Hurts is an absolute disaster.

The regular season is what matters. He is perhaps the biggest question mark for any potential playoff team in the NFL right now, and there are a range of outcomes where Hurts is concerned.

We could see a dramatically improved passer who makes quicker decisions, isn’t afraid to throw the ball over the middle of the field, with improved accuracy. We could see the same guy as last year, someone who makes some of the throws, plays pretty well against bad teams, struggles against good teams and does most of his damage with his legs. Or we could see a quarterback who regresses, proving the Eagles were right to accumulate two first round draft picks next April.

It’s impossible to know what we’ll get, but it’s important to remember that the only thing that matters is whether Hurts wins games, and we won’t get those results until September. We will not see him in the preseason, which will be frustrating, and it’s likely we’ll see some good practices, some mediocre sessions, and some awful ones from Hurts as he acclimates himself to some new teammates.

Everyone understands this is a make-or-break year for the third-year QB. With A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, Dallas Goedert, Miles Sanders, and the best offensive line in football around him, not to mention an improved defense, there are no excuses should Hurts fail to play well. Truth be told, I’m not convinced he’s the answer, but he needs to play games with those players before any determination can even begin to be made. Worrying about it now doesn’t do anything but add grey hairs.

Trust me, there’s enough in this world to worry about without inventing things to stress over.

There is no scenario, barring injury, where Gardner Minshew assumes the starting job before the season begins. It’s Hurts’ gig, and nothing he does over the next few weeks will change that.

It’s certainly wise to keep a watchful eye and take notes, but stressing over Hurts’ off-season performance is a waste of energy. Let’s see what happens when the bell rings first.