Report: Jalen Hurts 'has been the source of much internal frustration'

A new piece from one of the most credible national writers sheds some light on where things stand with the Eagles after a tumultuous 2025 season, perhaps most interestingly with quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Michael Silver wrote a tremendous story entitled "The problems inside the Eagles’ offense went far beyond Kevin Patullo," and we would suggest you subscribe to The Athletic to read the entirety of it. 

We're not going to post the overwhelming majority of the story here, but these two snippets about Hurts stood out: 

"For all that the quarterback has accomplished, including two standout performances on the sport’s biggest stage (one of which earned him Super Bowl MVP honors), he has been the source of much internal frustration, including from teammates other than Brown.

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"Plenty has been written about Hurts’ limitations as a quarterback, including a lack of willingness to operate from under center (though Philly did that more in 2025), an aversion to pre-snap motion, an inability to make quick post-snap reads and a reluctance to attempt intermediate and in-breaking passes. He also ran the ball less this season, which lessened his impact as a dual threat. Some of these issues may have been a function of scheme and play calling, but Hurts needs to be pushed beyond his comfort zone."

All of this, of course, makes the search for Patullo's successor at offensive coordinator an interesting one. In two of the last three seasons, the Eagles have had overly simplistic offenses that led to their offensive coordinators — Brian Johnson and now Patullo — being dismissed after one season. 

Heck, even when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in the 2024 season with now-New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore at OC, their offense felt like the definition of being reliant on the Jimmys and Joes, not the X's and O's. Yes, the scheme was obviously more innovate with Moore than Patullo or Johnson, but the Eagles had one of the most talented offensive lines in NFL history and Saquon Barkley had one of the greatest years a running back has ever had in 2024. There were still plenty of questions with the passing offense during the 2024 regular season, which you wouldn't expect with Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert all at Hurts' disposal. 

This isn't to say that Moore isn't actually good as an offensive coordinator, because he had a ton of success in that role with the Dallas Cowboys from 2019-2022. And if you watched the Saints down the stretch of the 2025 season, rookie Tyler Shough looked like a budding star in Moore's offense.

But Moore was operating with Hurts as his quarterback in 2024, and under Nick Sirianni. There are obviously much worse situations to be in, but those two do seem to be more conservative and focused on winning the turnover battle, perhaps at the expense of innovation at times. Hurts and Sirianni are the two common denominators in an offense that's lacked creativity since Shane Steichen departed as OC after the 2022 season to become the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. 

Perhaps then, both Hurts and Sirianni would benefit from a strong-willed offensive coordinator — one who may force the quarterback under center more frequently and add more motion to the offense — coming in. As Silver wrote, "Hurts needs to be pushed beyond his comfort zone." Sirianni probably does as well. 

Eagles fans tend to get very protective whenever there are critiques made of Hurts, which is understandable considering all the success the team has had with him at quarterback. Whether you believe quarterback wins are a good statistic or not, the Eagles have a 57-25 record when Hurts starts regular season games. He's led them to a pair of Super Bowl appearances and one title, outperforming Patrick Mahomes in each game. Hurts is very good, and the Eagles should unquestionably move forward with him at quarterback. 

At the same time, he's not above criticism. Patullo was over his skis, but others, including Hurts, need to make adjustments this offseason. The Eagles can't always be reliant on out-talenting teams, especially with uncertainty about whether — despite the cap implications — A.J. Brown can continue in Philadelphia. And that may mean Hurts needs to become more open to scheme adjustments. Perhaps the next OC can help to bridge that gap.