Jalen Hurts had his strongest showing of a young Eagles training camp on Monday, the fourth day of practice. And after connecting with Elijah Moore near the end zone on a deep post that went for about 40 yards, Hurts celebrated a little more than he normally would during a practice rep.
It wasn’t the play itself, or even his perfect throw, that had the quarterback feeling good, Hurts clarified Wednesday. The emotion came because of a “mishap” between the two new teammates earlier in practice. Moore, who was getting extra reps with first-round pick Makai Lemon dealing with a hamstring injury, ran the wrong route earlier that practice during 7-on-7 work. The end result was a Quinyon Mitchell interception that would have been an easy pick-six.
“I just think that was an example of responding,” Hurts said. “That’s what I was so proud of and happy about; not the throw, but that he was able to play the next play, show up in the right window at the right time and rip it in there for a touchdown down the middle of the field.”
It was the highlight of the day during what was a clean — besides the Mitchell interception — and efficient day from Hurts and the offense, and it showed Hurts’ willingness to throw the ball in the middle of the field, a characteristic of his game that he’ll need to show when the real football begins to silence those who say he isn’t willing to.
The new-look offense under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion is still in the early days of installation. While it got the best of Vic Fangio’s defense Monday, the defense has the upper-hand so far through six days of practice.
Wednesday’s practice was a run-heavy day and it was a shorter practice compared to Tuesday’s session that ran nearly two hours. For Hurts, Wednesday was another chance to “continue to take strides.” It isn’t supposed to be easy to install a new offense against one of the best defenses in the NFL.
“I like to think of the term calibrating,” Hurts said. “This is a time where we’re kind of putting it together and finding out who we are. We’ve got a lot of new pieces, an entirely new approach and MO, philosophy, to our offense. Being able to put that together and make it our own, I’m excited about where we are.”
The Eagles have a walkthrough on Thursday that is closed to media before returning to regular practices on Friday and Saturday, ending what will be the busiest practice week of training camp. Mannion’s unit has showed a lot of new wrinkles. Hurts is taking more snaps from under center. The run and play action plays are looking the same. The wide-zone blocking scheme is being installed. Hurts has kept the ball on more designed quarterback runs, including a read option Wednesday that he smartly pulled away from the running back and ran up the left sideline for a nice gain.
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Hurts said it was “too soon to answer” how those designed quarterback runs mesh with the new offense. “I think we’re still installing things and putting all aspects of our offense in,” he said. “We haven’t finished installing. There’s still more to come.”
That’s important context to avoid overreacting to media reports and social media chatter about the offense during camp. Certain days have certain themes. The offense is brand new for most of the roster. There are components of it still not being repped. Lemon, Lane Johnson, and DeVonta Smith have missed multiple practices. Mannion is going through his first training camp as a coordinator and play caller. Oh, and Wednesday was just Aug. 5, more than five weeks ahead of the first meaningful snap.
There are a lot of adjustments for Hurts, but perhaps the biggest is going under center and using play action from under center. Asked Wednesday how that change impacts the way Hurts goes through his reads, Hurts said that nothing changes.
“It’s all going to my feet,” he said. “When I’m playing with my feet and I’m getting my eyes to the right place, you just play the position. I just think that’s more of a flow thing. … It’s a sequencing thing. In the end, you’re still playing the position. You want to play the position the same way: Play with your feet, sweep through your reads, know exactly where you’re supposed to go with the ball, where your alerts are, whether it’s down the field or a man alert, just trying to play fast.”
Hurts said he is “letting curiosity lead me” during camp. He has long talked about wanting to know the why behind what he’s being asked to do. With the fresh scheme, he’s also learning about what each player’s responsibility is on a given play and even how Mannion “is seeing the game from a sequencing standpoint” when it comes to calling plays.
Mannion said on Saturday that Hurts “asks really thought-provoking questions.”
“It’s been a constant back and forth,” Mannion said. “Jalen’s had a ton of success in this league and has played in a lot of games. I always want to know the things that he feels comfortable with and if there’s something that maybe we need to go into more detail on for him. There are so many things that you love to dive into, the really nitty-gritty of a play, and help him with total mastery. A lot of it is, for me as a play-caller, getting a feel for what are his comfort calls? What are the things that on a second-and-long he feels super confident in?
“It’s been a great partnership with Jalen since we got here.”