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Tim McManus, ESPN Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said “95%” of the offense being installed this offseason is new, shedding light on the degree of change being made under offensive coordinator Kellen Moore following the team’s 1-6 slide to end 2023.
“You get to a point where you feel, I’m going to be comfortable with this, I like this, that time comes when you can rep it, rep it, rep it later on, but right now it’s been a lot of new inventory in — the majority of it, probably 95% of it being new — and so it’s just been that process, and it’s been a fun process because you get to see what works for other people,” Hurts said.
“I think the goal coming in was to learn Kellen’s offense and to master it, and I think that’s been a process, and by the end of it, I want it to be mine and have it in my own way.”
Coach Nick Sirianni and Moore, who replaced the fired Brian Johnson this offseason, had previously described the offense as a hybrid scheme that incorporates concepts from Sirianni’s and Moore’s previous systems.
Hurts explained that while some of the plays are similar, there are changes in details and responsibilities that make even the familiar a part of the learning curve.
“The X’s and O’s, the lines on the paper, they very well may be what they are supposed to be, but how I coach and how I detail these routes, how I coach the quarterback, what I want his timing to be, where I want him looking, where I want his eyes. Are receivers reading routes or are they not reading routes? Are there alerts on this, are there checks and adjustments built in on this or is this something the quarterback has to do? That’s what makes a system a system,” he said.
It was clear during both OTA practices and the Eagles’ minicamp, which wrapped Thursday, that players are still adjusting to the new details. The timing between Hurts and his playmakers has been hit or miss, and the same can be said for quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee as well.
Still, there is some excitement about what the offense will look like once the players get it down. One noticeable change is the jump in motion plays. Philadelphia was last in pre-snap motion last season.
“I think it’s going to be great to get a new style of offense,” receiver DeVonta Smith said. “Let guys, not have more freedom, but be able to do things that we weren’t allowed to do [last year] — move guys around and things like that.”
The Eagles’ season ended with a 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs — completing the collapse following a 10-1 start. Johnson and the top defensive decision-makers, Sean Desai and Matt Patricia, were fired and replaced by Moore and Vic Fangio. Acknowledging his offense had grown “stale,” Sirianni indicated he would be taking a step back from offensive duties while putting Moore “in charge of the offense.”
The hope is the adjustments will get the Eagles back to their form in 2022, when they boasted a top-five group that helped carry them to an appearance in Super Bowl LVII.
Sirianni said he is pleased with the way Hurts is absorbing the new scheme.
“I think he has done a really nice job of really grinding away to be a master at the offense and all the things that come with it,” he said.
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