Roob's Observations: How will Jalen Hurts respond to this new bunch of coaches? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Too many voices in Jalen’s head? Can Hollywood Brown or Elijah Moore break the Eagles veteran WR drought? And an appreciation of Mike Quick’s historic 1983 season.
A little look back, a little look ahead and just like that we’ve got a big ol’ pile of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations.
Best of all? If you don’t like these, you get 10 more next Sunday!
TOO MANY VOICES? With Sean Mannion, Josh Grizzard and Jerrod Johnson all joining Nick Sirianni’s staff, Mannion as offensive coordinator, Grizzard as passing game coordinator and Johnson as senior offensive analyst, Jalen Hurts will have three more new voices in his ear, and that is now a total of 17 offensive coaches – coordinators, QBs coaches, passing game coordinators – in seven seasons. Two concerns here: No 1 is the sheer number of offensive minds who have worked with Hurts since he was drafted in 2020. That’s a lot of different voices, a lot of different schemes, a lot of different philosophies. But the more immediate concern is that Hurts now has three more new voices simultaneously in Mannion, Grizzard and Johnson all coming from different teams and all now deeply involved in the offense. If you include Sirianni and QBs coach Parks Frazier, who is a holdover but in a new position, that’s five offensive coaches in key roles, and the challenge is that each has a very distinct, very specific role and they don’t step on each others’ toes and the messaging to Hurts is clear and not cluttered because he can’t perform at a high level if it is. And that can’t be easy with that many voices in the meeting rooms, on the practice field and most importantly on game day. We know about all the different play callers – Mannion is No. 7 in seven years – but he’s also had a different QB coach and passing game coordinator virtually every year as well, along with coaches with various other titles. In a perfect world, the Eagles have some continuity going into 2027 because I don’t think Hurts will ever maximize his ability if he has a different group of coaches every year. But for now, you just hope this unwieldy group – Sirianni, Frazier, Mannion, Grizzard and Johnson – can speak all speak the same language and that it’s a language Hurts can understand.
Jalen’s offensive coaches:
Doug Pederson (head coach, play caller, 2020)
Rich Scangarello (senior offensive assistant, 2020)
Andrew Breiner (pass game analyst, 2020)
Marty Mornhinweg(senior offensive consultant, 2020)
Nick Sirianni (head coach 2021-24, play caller first half of 2021)
Shane Steichen(offensive coordinator 2021-22, play caller second half of 2021)
Brian Johnson (quarterbacks 2021-22, offensive coordinator, play caller 2023)
Kevin Patullo (pass game coordinator 2021-24, offensive coordinator, 2025)
Alex Tanney (assistant QBs 2022, QBs 2023)
Marcus Brady (senior offensive assistant, 2023)
Kellen Moore (offensive coordinator, 2024)
Doug Nussmeier(quarterbacks, 2024)
Parks Frazier (passing game coordinator, 2025, QBs 2026)
Scot Loefler (quarterbacks, 2025)
Sean Mannion (offensive coordinator, 2026)
Josh Grizzard (passing game coordinator, 2026)
Jerrod Johnson (senior offensive analyst, 2026)
WHY B.G. STILL MATTERS: Brandon Graham’s three sacks last year are the 2nd-most in NFL history by a player playing 113 snaps or fewer. Somehow, in 2020, Arizona’s Dennis Gardeck, had 7.0 sacks in just 94 snaps. That seems impossible, but it happened. But 3.0 sacks in 113 snaps is crazy, too. B.G. has a rare ability to impact a game with minimal playing time and at 38 – his birthday is Friday – something like 10 to 12 snaps is probably the ideal usage. Any more than that and you’re not going to get the most effective version of B.G. But on a team with Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith – and perhaps Arnold Ebiketie and likely a Day 2 draft pick, B.G. can make his presence known while just playing a handful of snaps. He wants to keep playing and the Eagles could use him, so I would expect at some point he’ll officially be back.
JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE DAY: Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen are the only NFL quarterbacks to start at least 15 games in each of the last five seasons. Hurts is also the first Eagles QB ever to start 15 games in five straight seasons. Jaws would have – he started 16 games 1978 through 1981 but only 14 in 1977, which was the last year the NFL used a 14-game schedule.
CAN HOLLYWOOD BROWN OR ELIJAH MOORE HELP? I’m super curious how much Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore can give the Eagles this year – if anything. These type of pickups historically have not worked out for the Eagles. Are they going to be just a couple more failed veteran once-decent wide receiver pickups trying to resurrect their careers along the lines of Steve Smith, Mike Wallace, Rueben Randall, Jahan Dotson, Zach Pascal, Golden Tate, Miles Austin, Julio Jones, Parris Campbell, Dorial Green-Beckham and John Ross? Or will this be different? Like all those other guys, Brown and Moore were both high picks trending downward. Brown averaged 72 catches for 828 yards and six TDs from 2020 through 2022 but hasn’t been over 600 yards since, and he’ll be 29 by the time training camp starts. Moore had a couple OK seasons with the Browns the last two years but not what you hope for from a high 2nd-round pick. What Brown does have going for him is that he was functional for the Chiefs last year, with 49-for-587 and five TDs and one encouraging analytic is that he had a career-high 66.2 catch percentage, which means he caught 66 percent of his targets. That ranked a respectable 30th out of 90 receivers who had at least 40 targets and higher for example than guys like A.J. Brown, CeeDee Lamb, Chris Olave, Jameson Williams, Jaylen Waddle and Justin Jefferson. Moore barely played last year in his one year with the Bills (and briefly with the Broncos), but he is two years removed from a 61-catch season in Cleveland. These guys don’t have to come in and be stars. Whether A.J. is here or not, the Eagles just need reliable depth pieces at WR. The Eagles really haven’t had a decent third receiver since Riley Cooper had 55-for-577 behind starters Jeremy Maclin and Jordan Matthews in 2014. And remember, Sean Mannion likes to spread the ball around way more than Kevin Patullo. The Packers last year had 11 players with 15 or more targets, 2nd-most in the league. The Eagles had five. So Mannion wants to get more than just two WRs and a tight end involved in the passing game, and that could give Brown and Moore more opportunities than recent third Eagles WRs have gotten. It’s just harder to defend Either way, these are typical Howie Roseman no-risk moves. If they don’t work out, no harm done. If one or both do, Jalen Hurts has another weapon to throw to.
JALEN REAGOR WAS ONE OF ONE: The only player the Eagles have drafted since 2009 who has returned a punt for a touchdown at any point in his NFL career is Jalen Reagor. In the last 50 years, the Eagles have only drafted four players who have returned a punt for a TD: Allen Rossum, a 3rd-round pick in 1998, returned three but none as an Eagle, Brian Westbrook, a 3rd-round pick in 2001, had two in 2003, and DeSean Jackson, a 2nd-round pick in 2008, had four, all with the Eagles. So D-Jack, Westbrook and Reagor are the only players the Eagles have drafted since 1966 who have returned a punt for a touchdown as an Eagle.
A LOOK BACK AT AN ASTONISHING SEASON: Let’s talk about how remarkable Mike Quick’s 1983 season was. In his first year as a starter, playing for a team that went 5-11, Quick caught 69 passes for 1,409 yards, 13 touchdowns and a 20.4 per-catch average. Only two other players in NFL history have had 1,400 yards, 13 TDs and 20 yards per catch in a season, but Quick is the only one who’s done that in the last 50 years. In 1951, Hall of Famer Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch had 1,495 yards, a 22.7 average and 17 touchdowns, and in 1965, Hall of Famer Lance Alworth had 1,602 yards, a 23.2 average and 14 touchdowns. Quick made his first of five straight Pro Bowls that year and was a 1st-team all-pro. I’ll always say if the Veterans Stadium turf hadn’t torn up his knees, Quick would have been a no-doubt-about-it Hall of Famer.
ONCE IN 1,377 GAMES: In Super Bowl LII, the Patriots had three players with 100 receiving yards: Danny Amendola had 152, Chris Hogan 128 and Rob Gronkowski 116. The Eagles have played 1,377 games in franchise history and that’s the only time in the regular season or postseason that they’ve allowed three 100-yard receivers in a game.
A UNIQUE STREAK: Dallas Goedert has caught at least two passes in 11 consecutive postseason games. The only longer streaks by tight ends are Travis Kelce’s current 25-game streak, Brent Jones’ 13-game streak in the 1990s and 12-game streaks by Dallas Clark, Shannon Sharpe and Jay Novacek. If Goedert catches two passes in his next playoff game, he’ll be tied for 11th-longest streak of postseason games with multiple receptions by any player at any position. Goedert’s 74.7 postseason catch percentage is 4th-highest ever among tight ends (minimum 50 targets), behind only Kelce (80.9), former Eagle Keith Jackson (75.0) and Jason Witten (75.0).
ANDY AND SAM: The two active quarterbacks with the highest career passer ratings against the Eagles are Andy Dalton (109.7) and Sam Howell (107.2), their last two backups. Next on that list is Kyler Murray (107.1), so maybe he’ll be Jalen Hurts’ backup next year.
WAIT, THAT’S HIS DAD????? Did anybody watch the St. John’s-Kansas NCAA game and notice who scored the game-winner to send the Red Storm to the Sweet 16? It was senior point guard Dylan Darling, whose dad, James, was the Eagles’ 2nd-round pick in 1997 out of Washington State, where Dylan began his basketball career. James Darling played 10 years in the NFL, the first four with the Eagles, playing in 59 games and staring 24. His best moment as an Eagle was a 33-yard pick-6 off Jake Plummer in the Eagles’ opening-day loss to the Cards at the Vet in 1999 in Andy Reid’s first game as an NFL head coach. He played two years with the Jets and four with the Cards, retiring after the 2006 season. Dylan Darling spent two years at Washington State and one year at Idaho State before winding up at St. John’s.
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