Eagles Name Jalen Hurts Starting Quarterback

Update: The Eagles officially confirmed the news, announcing second-round QB Jalen Hurts will start in Week 14 against the Saints. 

Breaking News: QB Jalen Hurts will start this Sunday against the Saints. pic.twitter.com/VgGU54flLf

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 8, 2020

Eagles HC Doug Pederson released a statement saying: 

“I have come to a decision and I am going to go with Jalen Hurts this week against New Orleans. I looked at the whole thing and decided that for this week to look for that spark again to try to get the team over the hump.”

According to Adam Schefter, Eagles HC Doug Pederson is naming second-round QB Jalen Hurts his new starting quarterback. 

Hurts will start this coming week against the Saints and be backed up by former starting QB Carson Wentz.

Hurts took over for Wentz in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Packers, so this isn’t a big surprise. But it’s still shocking to see how far Wentz has fallen after being considered a bona fide franchise quarterback entering 2020. 

It’s hard to say what the future holds for the Eagles at the quarterback position, as Wentz’s contract is hard to get out of for the next couple of years. But they clearly feel Hurts gives them a better chance to win for the rest of this season at least. 

Hurts, 22, was drafted by the Eagles in the second round out of Oklahoma in 2020. He signed a four-year, $6,025,171 rookie contract that includes a $1,941,943 signing bonus. 

In 2020, Hurts has appeared in 11 games for the Eagles and completed 8-15 passing attempts for 142 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He’s also rushed 17 times for 85 yards and caught one pass for three yards. 

During his four-year college career at Alabama and Oklahoma, Hurts recorded 682 completions on 1,047 pass attempts (65.1 percent) for 9,477 yards, 80 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions to go along with 614 rush attempts for 3,274 yards (5.3 YPC) and 43 touchdowns.

Wentz, 27, is a former first-round pick of the Eagles back in 2016. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $26.7 million rookie contract that included a $16.7 million signing bonus when the Eagles picked up his fifth-year option that would have cost them $22.78 million for the 2020 season. 

The Eagles then signed Wentz to a four-year, $128 million extension going into the 2019 season that included $107 million in guarantees. 

In 2020, Wentz has appeared in 12 games for the Eagles and completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 2,620 yards, 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also rushed for 276 yards and five touchdowns.