It’s a new year with a new role and new responsibilities, and Jalen Hurts on Sunday expounded on his recent WIP interview, when he said he was told “not to worry about a lot of things” at the line of scrimmage because of Jason Kelce’s presence.
With Kelce retired, things have changed. Cam Jurgens is a smart, tough, heady player, but Kelce is a future Hall of Famer who was already in his 10th NFL season when Hurts was a rookie. Hurts said he’s excited to take on more decision making pre-snap as he begins Year 5 with the Eagles.
“It was never an issue or a lack of eagerness,” he said after practice. “I've always desired to be and expressed myself as being very coachable, taking in what I'm being fed and just trying to lead in the best way I can.
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“I think where we are right now is I'm walking into a year where I have new roles and I have new responsibilities, and that's where we are and I'm excited for that journey.”
The Eagles open their 92nd NFL season Friday against the Packers at São Paulo soccer stadium Corinthians Arena, nearly 5,000 miles south of Philadelphia. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET.
“I think as a quarterback you're always evolving, you're always growing, you're always taking in new knowledge and new information, and I think that's what makes us better,” Hurts said.
“That's always been my approach, to grow every day, learn every day, and take in the coaching every day. I have new roles and responsibilities, but everybody has new roles and responsibilities on each team in each year because no team is the same when you go from year to year.”
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Hurts has his strongest group of skill players ever. With A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, Dallas Goedert, Saquon Barkley, Kenny Gainwell and Hurts, this could be the first time in 34 years the Eagles have seven players with 500 scrimmage yards.
In 1990, receivers Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams, running backs Keith Byars, Anthony Toney and Heath Sherman, tight end Keith Jackson and quarterback Randall Cunningham all surpassed 500 yards.
“Got a group of guys that put a lot of work in, that are dedicated, spent a lot of time over the summer building up until this point,” Hurts said. “And so we're prepared. We've put in a lot of hard work and we've all committed to what we're trying to do. It's a matter of just carrying that out, day in and day out.”
Hurts will match Michael Vick and former teammate Carson Wentz with his fourth straight opening-day start. The last Eagles QB with more was Donovan McNabb, who started 10 straight openers from 2000 through 2009.
Since opening day 2021, Hurts is 33-14, the 3rd-most wins by any NFL quarterback behind Patrick Mahomes (36) and Josh Allen (35) from the AFC.
“I'm just excited for this group, my role in that group,” he said. “We always talk about dominating your box and accepting your role and doing that. So we're just taking it day by day. I've just really been an open ear to the guidance of my coaches. I don't want to get into the details of what what's what. … But I'm just going to do my best to do my job on this team and lead in the best way I can.
“We have a really good thing going. We've had a really good camp. We've built a lot of good momentum and we want to go out there and play at a high level and continue that.”