February 02, 2022
For those of you who are on team Jalen Hurts this offseason, news that the Eagles presumptive starting quarterback next season is having ankle surgery today can be a bit alarming. But with it likely being a minor procedure to fix a previous nagging injury has to be good news.
#Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is undergoing surgery today on his ankle, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 2, 2022
Hurts played through the injury late in the season and the playoff game, but it clearly affected him. He should be fully recovered by the start of OTAs this spring.
After all, there was a clear drop off in his play — at least on the ground where an ankle injury could do the most damage — and that certainly made an impact toward the end of the season. The eye test definitely made a case that things were a bit different after he got hurt. Having this injury repaired and theoretically put behind him is good news.
The injury occurred in Week 12 when he lost to the Giants — arguably his worst outing as a professional — and forced Hurts to miss Week 13. In Weeks 15-through-17, Hurts ran a total of 17 times for 89 yards. In his 12 games this season prior to the injury, he ran 122 times for 695 yards — almost twice the number of rushing attempts per game.
Interestingly, Hurts had two of his best games as a passer in Weeks 15 and 16. Did his ankle pain force him to throw the ball more, and teach him to have a little more discretion with the football?
Regardless, clearly Hurts wasn't his full dynamic self heading into the team's playoff matchup with the Buccaneers, and one has to wonder if he'd have been more effective at the tail end of the season had his ankle not been bothering him.
Howie Roseman has given Hurts his full endorsement as the team's QB1 for 2022. Whether you believe him is another matter, but he definitely didn't mince his words.
"I think for us, we have to do whatever we can to continue to help him develop," Roseman said a few weeks ago after replying "yes" when asked if Hurts was the starter going forward. "And how do we do that? By surrounding him with really good players, players who continue to grow. That's a huge part of developing, they grow. How they are in their second year is not how they are going to be in year four, five, six and seven. And they are also products of the people around them. That's on us to continue to build this team."
The surgery is expected to have him fully ready to participate in OTAs this spring, and a healthy Hurts will be important as the team potentially decides to build around him with their excess of draft capital and cap space this offseason.
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