Although things got off to a great start in training camp for the Philadelphia Eagles, some concerns have arisen over the last few practices. From injuries across the board to players like Andre Dillard struggling, not everything is sunshine and roses. Coming into training camp, almost everyone in the organization and fanbase had high hopes for Jalen Hurts but it hasn’t been a pretty sight of recent.

Yesterday’s practice was likely the worst so far this training camp, with some having said it was among the worst in the last several years for Philadelphia’s offense. The focus of blame on the Eagles’ offense was on Jalen Hurts. Hurts had severe accuracy issues with one interception and almost throwing another one shortly after. 

Throughout camp, Hurts has thrown a decent amount of interceptions and continues to struggle with his decision-making. For example, he missed a wide-open Jalen Reagor over the middle yesterday and on another play, threw into double coverage, and was nearly intercepted. Yesterday doesn’t seem to be the first occurrence of these issues, with an interception to Jacoby Stevens who baited him into a bad throw earlier last week.

Now, these bad practices and tendencies aren’t a guaranteed sign of what’s to come from Jalen Hurts. There are several variables currently that could be affecting his success. The first of those is the Eagles carousel of injuries at wide receiver. DeVonta Smith is out with an MCL sprain, and Jalen Reagor and four other wideouts have been injured at some point or are currently hurt. 

Also, another reason for the issues could be the offensive lines injuries as well. Nick Sirianni is down to his third string left guard and backup right guard, with Isaac Seumalo and Brandon Brooks both dealing with injuries. Now, these injuries aren’t long-term, but the shakeup up-front could be forcing Hurts into making bad throws to avoid a sack.

After the conclusion of the 2020 season, there was cause for concern with Jalen Hurts’ accuracy, but the biggest issue was timing and passing up on short windows. It was excusable last season since it’s a problem with almost every rookie quarterback due to coverages being a lot better in the NFL compared to college, especially Alabama. But these problems cannot continue to exist as Hurts develops.

Either way, if you expected Hurts to come out the gate looking like an MVP after just learning a brand new offense, I don’t know what to tell you. Even if Hurts is going to be a successful quarterback, he’s going to need some time to get situated.

And while he’s trying to find his groove, the Eagles’ front office hasn’t been doing a good job of letting Hurts know his job is safe.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be the first time an Eagles QB had some issues early in practice that never went away throughout the season. It’s way too early to tell if that is the case for Jalen Hurts but it’s alarming to see at the least.

All of the intangibles, work ethic, and leadership skills are there for Jalen Hurts to be the franchise guy for the Philadelphia Eagles. So hopefully, he can put it all together and work through his struggles over the next several weeks and prove the doubters wrong.

Mandatory Credit: USA Today Sports