There were several things that went wrong for the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
The offense struggled to move the chains, the team seemed to lack chemistry, and the coaching staff was rarely on the same page.
And while there’s plenty of blame to go around, a new bombshell report from ESPN’s Tim McManus and Jeremy Fowler seems to indicate that quarterback Jalen Hurts was the root cause of much of the team’s dysfunction.
“Hurts has had a hand in the offense becoming calcified, according to several team sources who spoke to ESPN on condition of anonymity,” McManus and Fowler wrote. “He has pushed back on changes that would diversify the scheme, sources said, including when it comes to him going under center more.
“He has shown a reluctance to let it rip at times, particularly against zone coverage. He diverts from the game plan and changes play calls to what some feel is an excessive degree. His strong preferences, coupled with the coaches’ efforts to play to his strengths, which include his deep-ball accuracy and throws to the perimeter, limit the breadth to which the offense can expand — or at least that’s the way it has gone in the past.”
McManus and Fowler also reported that Hurts often changed the play calls during games to better fit a scheme he was more comfortable with but also stagnated the offense quite a bit, which also strained other areas of the team too.
“[He had] poor body language, not always bought in, not the most coachable and the players notice,” a team source told McManus and Fowler.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini revealed during the season that there was also tension between Hurts and star wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was seemingly on social media on a weekly basis taking shots at the team because of his reduced role in the offense.
Now that the team’s dirty laundry is out in the open, the Eagles seemingly have nowhere to go but up.