The Eagles’ QB1 isn’t going anywhere for a long time.
The Eagles and franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts have agreed to terms of a five-year mega contract extension that will keep Hurts in Philly though the 2028 season, the team announced on Monday morning.
The deal is worth $255 million and includes over $179 million in guaranteed money, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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This deal, negotiated by Hurts’ agent Nicole Lynn and Eagles GM Howie Roseman, makes Hurts the highest-paid player in NFL history. And that $179 guaranteed is the second-most ever handed out in new money, behind just the Deshaun Watson deal in Cleveland.
The new contract also includes a no-trade clause, a source said. That's a first in franchise history.
All offseason, the Eagles did not hide their intentions about paying Hurts and keeping him here for the long haul. They got it done on Monday morning.
“Obviously we want to keep our best players here for the long term,” Roseman said in February. “And he's certainly one of our best players. So that's something we'll keep all the contract talks internal but we'd definitely like to keep Jalen Hurts here long term.”
NFL
They got it done.
Hurts, 24, is coming off an MVP-caliber season for the Eagles in 2022. In his second season as a full-time starter in the NFL, Hurts led the Eagles to a 14-1 record in the regular season and eventually to Super Bowl LVII. He completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,701 yards with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions this past season. He also ran for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns. He finished second in MVP voting to Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.
Hurts was set to enter the 2023 season on the final year of his rookie contract as a second-round pick and was scheduled to have a cap hit of $4.79 million in 2023. His new average per year of $51 million over that five-year extension is an NFL record. We haven’t seen the structure of this extension, but it will almost certainly be heavily backloaded for salary cap purposes and will likely pay out a lot of money in bonuses, which prorate over the length of the deal.
While the Eagles claimed they weren’t rushing to get their deal done before the Chargers extended Justin Herbert or the Bengals extended Joe Burrow, it was probably a good idea to go first. That $51 million per season will now likely be the floor of those next two contracts and perhaps the Lamar Jackson deal too.
The Eagles initially drafted Hurts with the No. 53 overall pick back in the 2020 draft out of Oklahoma (and previously Alabama). He began his career as a backup behind Carson Wentz but started the last four games that season as the wheels fell off during Doug Pederson’s final season at the helm.
In 2021, under new head coach Nick Sirianni, Hurts became the full-time starter and showed improvement. And then in 2022, finally playing a second consecutive year in the same offense, Hurts flourished. He very quickly answered the questions as to whether or not he was the franchise quarterback and put together an all-time great season.
“It's like having Michael Jordan out there,” Sirianni said during the playoffs. “He's your leader. He's your guy.”
The Eagles always had faith that Hurts would continue to grow as a player. And he’s certainly done that. They constantly talk about his work ethic and he really did earn this contract. As the Eagles and Hurts move forward together, his former quarterback coach Brian Johnson has been promoted to offensive coordinator to replace Shane Steichen, who left for the Colts’ head coaching job and Sirianni and that offense are still in place.
The future seems very bright for Hurts in Philadelphia.
"We always knew Jalen was talented, had a very live arm that we thought was discounted in college because he was such a great runner, and his character was always considered great, but maybe the advantage we had was we really respected his ability to throw the football and that that would improve based on tremendous work ethic,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said last month at the NFL owners meetings.
"I think the future is so great for him. He's 24 years old. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever met somebody that mature at age 24. I'd like to think I have – my son (Julian) is 27, he's very mature – no. Jalen is the most mature 24-year-old I've ever come across.
"It's different. Each franchise quarterback is different. But I've always said to you guys, quarterback, GM, coach, facilities, stadium, scouting, those kind of things, those are the keys. Once you can find it, that's when you're really excited. We'll be working with Jalen I'm sure for a long time."
In the wake of the loss in Super Bowl LVII, Hurts vowed to get better and learn from it. Even as it seemed clear this huge extension was coming, at locker cleanout day, Hurts was not interested in talking about it.
“I think the thing that I’m most focused on is winning,” Hurts said by his locker in February. “The only thing I care about is winning and ultimately winning a championship. There will be a day where that conversation can be had but today isn’t that day.”
Well, today finally is. And Hurts is the highest-paid player in NFL history.
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