December 07, 2020
After weeks of avoiding the question, denying a quarterback controversy and publicly backing Carson Wentz, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson did what was becoming increasingly inevitable in the third quarter of Sunday's 30-16 loss to the Packers: he benched his starter in favor of rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts.
The move provided an instant spark, the precise thing Pederson said postgame that he was hoping the switch would provide, to all three facets of the game, with the Birds turning what was looking like a blowout into a one-score game with a chance to tie late in the fourth quarter.
Now, that spark is a full blown fire as the Eagles have a legit quarterback controversy on their hands.
Hurts looked good, not great, but with Wentz playing like the worst quarterback in the NFL this season, there wasn't really a high bar for the former Heisman finalist to step over in his first meaningful NFL appearance. And he more than cleared it as he brought the Eagles back from a 23-3 deficit to cut the Packers lead to 23-16 in the fourth quarter. He completed the two best passes of the day — a deep ball down the sideline to Jalen Reagor with a rusher bearing down on him and a fourth-and-18 pass to Greg Ward for his first NFL touchdown — and was able to use his legs to avoid some of the constant pressure he was facing thanks to an offensive line that's been decimated by injury.
Pederson on Monday classified Hurts' play as "okay," which is perhaps not the ringing endorsement many expected. The head coach did go on to elaborate when pressed, adding that he thought the rookie did some things well, but said once he looks at the film there will be some obvious things he needs to clean up, which is likely to be expected from a guy getting his first real reps in the NFL.
Now, the obvious question is where do the Eagles go from here? Do they go back to Wentz next weekend against the Saints? Or do they give Jalen Hurts his first NFL start, which would likely mean that the fifth-year starter and former MVP candidate's season is over?
While the media and the majority of the fan base seems to have made up its mind about who should start on Sunday against New Orleans, Pederson said he has not yet made a decision.
"I'm not prepared right now to make any statement or decisions on that," he told reporters on his weekly day-after Zoom call. "I'm still processing a lot of things and going through a lot of things before I make that decision. When I know, you'll know."
So when will we know? It could come as early as Monday. It could come Tuesday. Or, perhaps, Wednesday when the team returns to the practice field. In the meantime, the QB controversy rages on. And, as we'll see in today's edition of What They're Saying, that it's a controversy of the Eagles' own making — and one that could lead to some heads rolling in the offseason, if they even make it that long.
Let's start with ESPN's Tim McManus, who is firmly in the Hurts-should-start camp following Sunday's loss to the Packers. And it goes well beyond the Xs and Os. As we mentioned above, Hurts provided the spark on offense that the team was looking for, and it actually went beyond that and spilled over onto defense and special teams as well.
And that actually makes you wonder — did that spark simply come from Hurts being put into the game, or did it have just as much to do with the fact that they were going away from Wentz? Could there be another Foles vs. Wentz type split taking place in the locker room? And if so, what does that say about Carson as a leader? This is all just speculation, but it was hard to see what took place on the field on Sunday and not notice the difference, especially when it was just as easy to view the change as Pederson throwing in the towel on the season. It could've been a deflating move and was instead viewed by the players as the opposite. Hmmm...
Either way, McManus believes that Hurts needs to be the guy under center next weekend against the Saints.
There is no path that leads to a clear, positive outcome for the Philadelphia Eagles when it comes to their quarterback situation, but now that Pandora's box has been opened, they need to start rookie Jalen Hurts on Sunday in Week 14 against the New Orleans Saints (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), and possibly beyond.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he made the move from Carson Wentz to Hurts in the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers because the offense needed "a spark." Really, it gave the whole team one.
Hurts got Philadelphia into the end zone for the first time with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ward midway through the fourth quarter. Just over a minute later, fellow rookie Jalen Reagor sprang to life and ripped off a 73-yard punt-return touchdown to pull the Eagles within a TD. Philadelphia's defense rose up for a pair of three-and-outs amid all of this before yielding a long touchdown run to Green Bay's Aaron Jones which, along with a Hurts interception, sealed the game for the Packers in a 30-16 win.
It was short-lived, but that energy was undeniable. Given how juice-less this team had been for 11-plus games, Pederson owes it to his players to see if that spark can be reignited against New Orleans and sustained over four quarters with Hurts at the helm. [espn.com]
Ben Solak of BGN also believes Hurts needs to be the guy to start in Week 14, and doesn't think it's a particularly tough call. And that goes beyond just the short-term benefits of providing a potential spark to a team that's been its own fire extinguisher this year. It's also better for the team in the longterm, according to Solak.
Since the stunning moment in which he was selected with the 53rd overall pick, Hurts has been an object of debate and controversy. He’s been lauded as a farsighted masterstroke for Eagles GM Howie Roseman, held up as the idol of the coaching staff’s “quarterback factory,” since broken down and shuttered. He’s been blamed for Wentz’s regression and miscast as a Taysom Hill knockoff.
But now that Hurts finally got his foot in the door before it closed and snagged a few series against the Packers, that which has seemed inevitable has come true: He played better than Carson Wentz.
Of course he did — it’d be almost impossible to play worse. Hurts threw his first touchdown, took his first sack, gave up his first interception, and kept his head above water in a difficult situation in Green Bay, and with his passable play, forces a question for the Eagles’ beleaguered brass: who is the starting quarterback from here on out?
This will be called a tough question; it isn’t one. It must be Jalen Hurts.
There is no short-term or long-term benefit to playing Carson Wentz anymore. [bleedinggreennation.com]
The Inquirer's Jeff McLane also wrote about the QB controversy, one that he believes is the Eagles' own damn fault. And he certainly isn't wrong, especially after they reached for a QB in the second round after just inking their starter to a monster deal that made him virtually untradeable (more on that in a minute) and finally freeing him from the shadow of Nick Foles.
Now, the Eagles find themselves in an even trickier situation that essentially amounts to a Catch-22. If Hurts plays well and replaces Wentz longterm, it's an indictment of the contract they just handed out to Wentz. If he doesn't, it not only looks like a waste of a pick, but it also could have irreparably damaged Wentz's psyche. And if there's one position in the NFL where that can derail your entire career, it's quarterback.
Jalen Hurts would need to develop into a bona fide starting NFL quarterback to at least justify the Eagles drafting him in April. Even if that were to occur, the people responsible for the selection shouldn’t be around if he is to become one in Philadelphia.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie can’t fire himself, but he needs to be honest with himself about his role in the Eagles’ recent mistakes in the draft. He needs to frankly assess the job general manager Howie Roseman has done, obviously in relation to the larger picture, but specifically to the Hurts pick.
There’s little to defend. It has discernibly affected Carson Wentz. How else to explain one of the greatest regressions in NFL history? All it took was 12 games for Wentz to be benched. A strong argument can be made that it should have come sooner. ...
The Eagles have themselves a full-blown quarterback controversy that is of their own doing, and one that many said was possible the moment Hurts was drafted. The people responsible can’t take much credit for his success because it will come at the expense of the quarterback they banked on.
It’s that simple. Of course, Lurie and the Eagles have found a way to overcomplicate since winning a title just three years ago. [inquirer.com]
According to Martin Frank of The Delaware News Journal, "the Eagles have little choice now but to stick with Hurts over Carson Wentz." And, like McLane, he believes this is a mess the Birds created for themselves.
But, even after Sunday's performance, Pederson left the window open to a possible return for Wentz next week against the Saints. Why he thinks that's a good idea is anyone's guess. But his massive contract — something that Pederson is not responsible for — might have something to do with it.
"As crazy as it sounds, we have four games left, and anything is possible," Pederson said, albeit not convincingly. "We just have to continue to work and just fight each week, and see what happens in the last month of the season."
Good luck, because the Wentz Wagon has broken down, and that likely will cost Pederson his job.
The Eagles are stuck in a quarterback controversy that is entirely their own doing. They gave Wentz a four-year, $128 million contract extension in June 2019, then surrounded him with aging and injured players (read: Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Jason Peters).
Then they drafted Hurts in the second round last spring, and Wentz was immediately under siege from every direction – 11 different offensive line combinations in 12 games, a depleted and inexperienced wide receiver corps, and Pederson's questionable play calling.
It's no wonder that metaphorically speaking, Wentz was constantly looking over his shoulder. No wonder Wentz seemed shell-shocked and skittish after four more sacks Sunday brought his NFL-leading total to 50. [usatoday.com]
Want to be depressed? After entering the season with what looked like arguably the best quarterback situation in the NFC East — Wentz was still considered good and they had Jalen Hurts as a development prospect behind him — it's now not a stretch to say the Eagles have the worst QB situation in the division.
Here's more from JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington...
Washington's quarterback situation is anything but settled. Veteran Alex Smith is under contract two more seasons but doesn't appear to be the long-term answer. Haskins, the 15th overall pick in 2019, has already been benched and moved to third-string this season.
Still, Smith's salary is moderate for the position and Haskins is on a team-friendly rookie deal. The Giants have Daniel Jones on a team-friendly rookie deal.
Dallas has the most uncertainty at QB. Dak Prescott was playing the 2020 season on a franchise tag before a broken ankle ended his season. But the Cowboys could still get a long-term deal done with Prescott, or with what looks like a likely Top 5 pick, Jerry Jones could draft his QB of the future in April.
Nobody has a mess like the Eagles. [nbcsports.com]
Speaking of Wentz's awful contract, Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com ranked the 25 worst contracts in the NFL over the weekend, in which he compared the players' actual salary to what their formula actually says he's worth. And the Eagles were well represented, with two of the Top 10 in the entire league. Not just that, they actually had the worst deal overall. And it actually doesn't belong to Wentz...
9. Carson Wentz, QB, Eagles
$32M/year, $34.7M 2021 cap hit, $59.2M to cut
I can’t explain the complete implosion of Wentz this year. He went from being a reasonable NFL starter to one of the bottom five in the NFL in the span of a few months. Our valuation metric puts Wentz at $23 million which for a healthy NFL QB is about as low as it gets. Wentz is one of those players where the contract was fine in relation to the market but now just looks like a catastrophe, similar to a situation that unfolded years ago with Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans. Wentz technically is only at the end of his rookie contract which ran through 2020 and there is no way to cut Wentz in 2021 without cutting him a massive check and carrying huge sums of dead money on the salary cap. If the team fails to cut Wentz this offseason then he will also have his 2022 salary guaranteed. Wentz’ cap hitis the 5th largest in the NFL next year to boot. Basically this is the Todd Gurley contract on steroids. The only hope for the Eagles is to either trade Wentz (“only” a $33.8M charge on the cap) or to hope he magically remembers how to play QB in the last five weeks of the season.
[...]
1. Alshon Jeffery, WR, Eagles
$13M/year, $18.5M 2021 cap hit, $10.5M to cut
If anyone wants to point to the contract that really started to change the dynamics for the 2nd tier receivers I think it was this contract. While you can give the Eagles some credit for getting ahead of the curve I am sure they expected more from this one. Jeffery signed this contract toward the end of the 2017 season and since then has produced, 843 yards, 490 yards, and 15 yards. Jeffery has missed 17 games in the last three seasons and just been a paperweight for the last two years. This contract would have wound up bad but ended up even worse because of a cap relief restructure in 2019 that saw the Eagles convert $10.82M of salary to a bonus. During this restructure they wound up agreeing to guarantee his 2020 salary. It was an epic failure leaving Philly with a cap charge of $15.4m this year and absolutely no production. Even next year when they walk away from him he will leave them with a $10.5M parting gift. [overthecap.com]
Yikes.
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