One overlooked key for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to fix their offense

Jalen Hurts dealt with several setbacks in 2023. 

There was a lingering knee bruise and then the finger injury in the regular-season finale. There was his statistical regression. And there was the Philadelphia Eagles' 1-6 finish to the season. That certainly wasn't what Hurts or the Eagles expected after the team signed him to a five-year, $255 million contract before the season started.

There were many reasons why Philly didn't return to the Super Bowl last season. But perhaps one of the overlooked issues was Hurts' lack of rushing production and efficiency.

If you can glance at his stats, you'll see that he scored 15 rushing touchdowns.

That's as good as it gets, an NFL record for rushing touchdowns for a QB. But the "tush push" is largely responsible for that spike — not Hurts' mobility. Yes, he's scoring the touchdowns, which is a credit to him — but he scores on the backs of his offensive linemen, sometimes literally.

That rushing TD total doesn't really tell the story of the issues Hurts dealt with running the ball last season. And if Hurts is to get to the Super Bowl this season, it's of the utmost importance that the Eagles reawaken his rushing production. Adding two-time Pro Bowl back Saquon Barkley helps the running game, but getting Hurts more involved remains essential. 

Last year, he posted his lowest rushing total (605 yards) and lowest yards per carry (3.9) in his three seasons as a full-time starter. He also posted the most fumbles (5).

What triggered that shift?

Maybe the Eagles were protecting him with their play calls — or reacting to the knee issue that plagued him throughout the season. He had just 17 designed rushing attempts in 2023. That pales in comparison to 2022, when he had 41, and to 2021, when he had 30. He also didn't have many explosive runs — just 18 runs of 10 yards or more. That's down from 26 in 2023 and 29 in 2021.

Remember, the Eagles had a different offensive coordinator last season. After Shane Steichen ran the offense for Hurts' two best seasons in 2021 and 2022, Brian Johnson took over for a year. He's no longer with the team, in part because of the issues the offense encountered during the late-season collapse. Former Cowboys and Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has taken over as Hurts' fourth OC in five years.

Moore has made major changes to the offense (including adding substantially more pre-snap motion), which should include more designed runs. In joint practices against the Patriots this week, Hurts ran the ball on the first play of 11-on-11 team drills. He also rushed on the first play of team red-zone drills (11-on-11).

"He's moving even quicker than he was last year," edge Brandon Graham said of Hurts. "I think he was probably dealing with some stuff last year, but you can tell that he got a new and improved view of life this year. And I'm excited for him, because you can tell that he's excited. You always be on him about smiling. But I know him personally, that boy is really happy with what's going on."

The overhauled scheme will be crucial in getting Philly back on track — perhaps ranking only after the rebuilding of a reportedly icy relationship between coach Nick Sirianni and Hurts. While there's much chatter about the uptick in pre-snap motion, it might be more important to focus on the philosophical shift about running Hurts.

"Quarterback run game — obviously it's a phenomenal piece," Moore said. "Very prominent in college football. There's some aspects of it still in the NFL. It certainly gives you the extra numbers in the run game, but there's an awareness. The NFL is a long season, so we just have to be smart about it as we go. We want to continue to utilize it as much as we can."

Moore will have to decipher the following questions:

1. How important is Hurts' rushing production to the efficiency of the Eagles offense? (I'd argue: extremely important.)
2. How important is Hurts' mobility? Because quarterbacks can make use of their mobility without getting rushing production — ala Patrick Mahomes. Mobility can serve as a vehicle for increased creativity in an offense.
3. And finally, how willing are the Eagles to risk Hurts' health to make use of his mobility and rushing abilities?

When it comes to mobility, Hurts remained active as an on-the-run passer last season. He attempted 17.8% of his passes on the run (measured when a passer is traveling eight or more miles per hour at the time of throw), which was seventh-most in the NFL. It was also roughly on par with his previous two seasons (17.6% in 2022, 20.8% in 2023). And Hurts averaged 8.9 scramble yards per dropback, fourth-highest among all QBs with at least 250 pass attempts. (That compares to 8.3 in 2022 and 9.7 in 2021.)

So as a passer, Hurts made use of his mobility last season. And it doesn't sound like Moore will phase that out.

"We spend all our time trying to draw up some beautiful play that will work perfectly and we all hope and have those dreams," Moore told reporters. "It doesn't always happen that way in the NFL, and so there is a second component to every play where you can get into the off-schedule part of this thing and continue to emphasize that.

"That's a huge strength for Jalen, his ability to run after that, and also still remain a passer. The O-line has to strain longer, they have to keep protecting. The skill guys have to find the open space. So, we're continuing to try and build on those [things] moving forward."

So that's still full go. What was most different last year was that Hurts stopped converting his runs into major production. And it's easy to wonder whether that's tied, in part, to the Eagles' concerns about injury. (When you invest heavily in a player, you don't want to break him.) Injury management seemed to be top-of-mind for Sirianni when I asked him about using Hurts more as a runner in 2024.

"If we're talking about the run game, we're always cautious with him on that as far as how we run, how we protect the runs, the type of runs we do so we put him in a safe position," Sirianni said. "And then we also expect him to take care of himself out there and not take those hits that we know can be detrimental."

With the influx of mobile passers, the balance of running and avoiding injury is a league-wide dilemma. 

How much running can the quarterback get away with?

The Buffalo Bills, for example, tried to manage Josh Allen's rushing attempts, but the team realized it had clipped its quarterback's wings. When the Bills replaced offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey with Joe Brady during the season, Allen's runs ticked upward. And the offense benefited. But Allen is 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds. Hurts is listed at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds — and he looks slimmer this year than last year.

The bottom line is that the Eagles can't escape how badly they need Hurts' mobility and rushing production. They have built an offense predicated on their QB keeping the ball and generating explosive plays. They will need to see him produce in that area just as he did from 2021 to 2022. 

Because his dip in rushing efficiency in 2023 wasn't just a symptom of their offensive issues — it was a cause.

If the Eagles are going to reignite their offense, the pre-snap motion will help. But the post-snap motion — from Hurts specifically — is what will move the chains. And the Eagles need more of that in 2024 than they had at the end of 2023.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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