Through the first three games of the Philadelphia Eagles season, some issues have begun to arise with quarterback Jalen Hurts. The good news is that Hurts looks better than he did last season, cleaning up his mistakes with turnovers and slowly improving his timing and decision-making. Accuracy has still been shaky at times, and Monday’s loss only made things worse.

Despite the minor issues, one part of Jalen Hurts game that needs massive improvement is his arm strength. There have been numerous missed deep passes where the Eagles receiver had his guy beat, but Hurts underthrew the pass. The Eagles have left several points on the board because of these throws, and it’s something that will hurt the team for the rest of the season. 

Over the last three games, Jalen Hurts is 6/13 on passes over 20 yards. He looked perfectly fine against Atlanta, but was just 2/7 against San Francisco in week two. The deep throw against Dallas wasn’t as bad as San Francisco, but it was still an issue, going 2/4 with one of the passes being intercepted. The issue isn’t with accuracy or just chucking it, it’s when Hurts has a guy but can’t get the ball to him in stride.

While arm strength is something that can be developed, it won’t happen overnight. Jalen Hurts will need a season or two to get stronger, and he doesn’t have that much time if things continue to go wrong. Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman have developed an offense with a reliance on deep throws with the downfield threats of DeVonta Smith, Jalen Reagor, and Quez Watkins. What good are their abilities if Hurts can’t get the football to them?

A lack of arm strength can be catered towards on offense, and the Eagles have the assets to do so. A solid running back and a dominant tight end duo to work mid-length routes help Hurts get the ball moving but not sling it every play. The problem is that Nick Sirianni forgets the Eagles have Miles Sanders and flat out never uses him and forces Hurts to make these throws that he isn’t capable of producing.

The entire city and the Eagles locker room are behind Jalen Hurts. Everyone wants to see this kid succeed. He has every innate quality you need from a quarterback and has shown to be a tremendous leader for this team. The problem is, these traits haven’t transferred well over to the football field yet. 

Now, I am not throwing the towel in on Jalen Hurts just yet, not at all. The kid has started seven games in the NFL, and many of the critiques thrown his way have slowly gone away. I agree with the consensus that Hurts has an entire season to prove himself, and I hope he can win over the organization for good. 

As I said above, I don’t expect to see an overnight change in Jalen Hurts’s deep throws, but some schematic changes need to be made to compensate for that, and that falls on Nick Sirianni. Hopefully, after Monday’s loss, Sirianni will figure out the error of his ways, and this Eagles team can continue to grow and get back on the right path.

Mandatory Credit: USA Today Sports