After the Tampa playoff game, as Jalen Hurts spoke with reporters with a walking boot on his injured left ankle, he was asked if he might need surgery.
"I hope not," he replied.
No such luck.
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Hurts is scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday to repair the left ankle injury he suffered in the Eagles' loss to the Giants on Nov. 28, according to a tweet by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
According to the tweet, Hurts is expected to be fine for OTAs this spring.
Hurts had two weeks off after the Giants game -- a win over the Jets when Gardner Minshew played and the bye week -- but he was never quite the same after suffering the injury, which occurred when right guard Jack Driscoll accidentally stepped on his foot.
Although his rushing numbers were still good -- Hurts averaged 5.7 yards per carry before the injury and 5.1 after it -- he ran about half as often following the injury (6 times per game as opposed to 11) and had a much tougher time trying to make plays on the move, which is a huge part of his game.
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Hurts steadfastly refused to use the injury as an excuse: "It feels fine," he said after he played well in late-season wins over the Commanders and Giants. "It's been good enough for us to get two wins."
Hurts echoed that throughout the rest of the season, and when the Eagles removed him entirely from the injury report prior to the Bucs game, conventional wisdom said the ankle actually was improving.
When the Eagles rested Hurts for the meaningless season finale against the Cowboys, coach Nick Sirianni said: "We just thought this was an opportunity to get him back to 100 percent."
But it's clear that he was never anywhere close to 100 percent.
With his mobility compromised, Hurts was largely ineffective in the playoff loss to the Buccaneers, completing just 53.5 percent of his passes with one touchdown and two interceptions in the 31-15 loss. There's no way to know how much of his struggles were related to the ankle injury, but it couldn't have helped.
Hurts, 23, was named a Pro Bowl alternate this year after recording 26 combined touchdowns in 15 regular-season games and becoming the youngest quarterback to lead the Eagles to the playoffs. He became only the second NFL quarterback in the last 30 years to complete 52 percent of his passes as a rookie and over 60 percent of his passes in his second season.
Howie Roseman and Sirianni said after the season Hurts will remain the Eagles' quarterback in 2022, although that is certainly not etched in stone.