Philadelphia Eagles GM, head coach say Jalen Hurts is the team’s 2022 starting quarterback

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni served up a vote of confidence in second-year starting quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Pressed whether or not Hurts would indeed be the Eagles’ starting quarterback in 2022, Roseman answered yes multiple times during Philadelphia’s exit interviews with the local media.

“You know, we talk about Jalen and the growth he had. Really, first-year starter, second-year player leading this team to the playoffs. Tremendously impressed by his work ethic, his leadership. We talked, last time we talked was during camp and we said we wanted to see him take the bull by the horn and he certainly did that,” Roseman said.

Hurts finished the 2021 regular season with 3,144 passing yards and 16 passing touchdowns against nine interceptions. The former Sooner signal-caller led the Eagles into the NFL Playoffs as the NFC’s No. 7 seed after Philly posted a 9-8 record.

Hurts threw for 258 yards and a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he was also intercepted twice in the Eagles’ 31-15 loss in the wild card round versus the Bucs.

With three first-round picks (Nos. 15, 16 and 19) in the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft, there was speculation that the Eagles might use those picks to either draft another quarterback or perhaps trade for another established starter.

At least for now, Roseman made it clear that Philadelphia’s intention is to build the roster around Hurts.

“I think for us we’ve got to do whatever we can to continue to help him develop and how do we do that? By surrounding him with really good players. Players continue to grow. That’s a huge part of developing. They grow. How they are in their second year is not how they’re going to be in year four, five, six and seven. They’re also products of the people around them, so that’s on us to continue to build this team,” Roseman said.

Sirianni said it’s been made clear to Hurts that he is the Eagles’ starting quarterback moving forward as well.

“Jalen knows where he stands with us. He knows he’s our quarterback. How do you know where you stand with a coaching staff? Because you communicate and you talk over and over and over and over again. And so, Jalen knows where he stands with us. I thought he did a great job of getting better throughout the year as we’ve talked about. And so, yeah, there’s no secrets there. He knows he’s our guy,” Sirianni said.

Hurts reflected on his season the day before and said the Eagles can build off what they accomplished in 2021 together.

“I think I’ve done a lot of great things this year. A lot of things to learn from personally. I think the most important thing for me when you ask that question is the relationships that I’ve built with my teammates. The time that we’ve put in. Put in the work, getting this far in the season and overcoming the different things we’ve overcome this year and being with my coaches, building relationships with them and building something special in the future. I think there’s a lot of value in everything that’s happened this year and it’ll do us a good deed coming up next year,” Hurts said.

Hurts is one of three former Sooners that were starting quarterbacks in the NFL this past season, joining Arizona’s Kyler Murray and Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield.

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