It remains a mystery as to whether Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts will be under center for the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17 against the New Orleans Saints. But one analyst is already bracing for the bad news.
On Wednesday, ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano wrote that he would be “surprised” if Hurts played against the Saints this week. He said that from what he’s heard, the Eagles never gave serious consideration to playing Hurts against the Cowboys this past week.
“Despite what the Eagles were saying publicly last week, I don’t believe there was ever any consideration given to Jalen Hurts playing against the Cowboys after his shoulder injury was revealed — and once again, I’d be surprised if he played this week…”
Graziano said that the bigger decision the Eagles face is whether to give Hurts any reps at all in their season-finale against the New York Giants. The team believes that Hurts will be ready for the playoffs but don’t know how the injury will affect him once he does come back.
“The Eagles’ real decision could end up being whether to give Hurts some game action in Week 18 against the Giants just so he hasn’t had five weeks off before their divisional-round playoff game (assuming they secure that No. 1 seed and bye). The impression I get from talking to people about this situation is that the Eagles believe they will have Hurts back before their first playoff game, but they still aren’t sure about the extent to which the injury will affect him once he does return.”
Jalen Hurts was one of the frontrunners for the MVP award this year, but his injury at this critical point in the season might wind up costing not only the MVP, but the top overall seed and potentially even the NFC East title unless they can win just one more game.
The Eagles have a lot of tough choices to make over these final few weeks. Their Super Bowl hopes may depend on it.
Will Jalen Hurts play at all in the final two regular season games? Should he?