Over the next few weeks leading up to training camp, we’ll be counting down the top 25 most important Eagles for the 2024 season.
25. Brandon Graham
24. Nakobe Dean
23. Milton Williams
22. Jake Elliott
21. Nolan Smith
20. Cooper DeJean
19. Reed Blankenship
18. Tyler Steen
17. Devin White
16. Quinyon Mitchell
15. Jordan Davis
14. Landon Dickerson
13. C.J. Gardner-Johnson
12. Dallas Goedert
11. Josh Sweat
10. Bryce Huff
9. Cam Jurgens
8. Saquon Barkley
7. Darius Slay
6. DeVonta Smith
5. Jalen Carter
4. Jordan Mailata
3. A.J. Brown
2. Lane Johnson
1. Jalen Hurts
The quarterback is pretty much always going to be No. 1 on this list. It’s the most important position in sports.
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But Jalen Hurts is entering an interesting season.
Because he was good in 2023, but he didn’t play up to the level of his 2022 season, when he probably would have been MVP without a late-season injury.
2022: 14-1 record, 66.5%, 3,701 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs; 760 rushing yards, 15 TDs
2023: 11-6 record, 65.4%, 3,858 yards, 23 TDs, 15 INTs; 605 rushing yards, 15 TDs
NFL
The biggest change in Hurts’ game last season was the increase in turnovers; he had 15 INTs and 5 lost fumbles in 2023. After being so careful with the football during the Eagles’ Super Bowl season, Hurts had a career-high interception rate of 2.8% last season. He needs to get back to making better decisions. He also didn't seem as mobile in 2023.
Of course, there might be some regression to the mean with those turnovers. In fact, ProFootballFocus has a stat called Turnover Worthy Plays and Hurts was toward the top of the league in that stat at 2.3%. Of 41 qualified QBs, just seven had a lower TWP percentage. It's not a perfect stat but it makes you think Hurts could clean this up in 2024.
Hurts will have another offensive system and play-caller in 2024 with the addition of Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator. Much earlier this offseason, Hurts admitted that he yearns for some stability but he’s spent this offseason learning again.
“I think this whole entire offseason, it’s been about learning,” Hurts said at the conclusion of minicamp. “Learning and taking in new knowledge, new perspective with the minds that we have in the room. I think throughout the whole entire thing, that’s kind of been the emphasis. You get to a point where you kind of feel, ‘Hey, I’m going to feel comfortable with this, I’m going to like this.’ But that time comes when you can rep it, rep it, rep it later on.
“But right now, it’s been a lot of new inventory in. Majority of it, probably 95% of it being new. It’s just been that process and it’s been a fun process because you get to see what works for other people. The number of coaches that I’ve had since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to take in a lot of new knowledge and new understanding. So I think the goal coming in was to learn Kellen’s offense and master it and I think that’s been a process and I think by the end of it, I want it to be mine and have it in my own way.
“I think that’s kind of a credit to the lack of continuity with that and it being a thing where I’ve kind of had to take all these new things and new voices and still go out there and be successful and efficient. I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen again.”
The hope is that Moore will be able to rejuvenate what Nick Sirianni admitted was a stale offense at the end of 2023. While the Eagles will happily tell you that their offense was a top 10 unit last season, that was clearly not good enough. Their offense was too reliant on star power and wasn’t maximizing that talent.
For the Eagles to be successful in 2024, they’re going to need an elite offense and that starts with getting Hurts back on track in Year 5 of his career.
Hurts right now has the eighth-shortest odds to win the NFL MVP award. Here’s the top 10, per Fanatics Sportsbook:
1. Patrick Mahomes: +600
2. Josh Allen: +800
3. C.J. Stroud: +900
4. Joe Burrow: +1000
5. Lamar Jackson: +1200
6. Justin Herbert: +1300
7. Jordan Love: +1400
t-8. Jalen Hurts: +1600
t-8. Dak Prescott: +1600
10. Brock Purdy: +1800
Last offseason, the Eagles paid their franchise quarterback, locking up Hurts on a $255 million contract that pays him an annual average salary of $51 million.
If you’re wondering, nothing about the 2023 season changed the organization’s view on Hurts. They still see him as their 25-year-old franchise QB.
“Jalen Hurts, outstanding young quarterback, outstanding young person,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in late March. “OK, Jalen Hurts, let's take an objective appreciation of this young man: The year before, co-MVP candidate, I think he ended up No. 2 in the National Football League. You could argue that with one more chance for the ball at the end of the Super Bowl, he was the Super Bowl MVP.
“Then we go into this year, and we're 10-1 and I think I remember reading about the odds of (him) being MVP this year, I think Jalen was leading the way for one of the top two. That's Jalen's last two seasons, 25 years old, leading this team.”