Jalen Hurts proved all his doubters wrong last year, having a fantastic season that ended up with the Eagles just a field goal away from winning the Super Bowl. The front office took note and made sure he doesn’t go anywhere anytime soon.
Philadelphia made the quarterback the highest-paid player in league history, getting him tied to a historic $255, five-year contract extension. Hurts has earned it, and now will have to live up to the expectations.
Since the Eagles made a big commitment to him, many wondered whether they’d expect him to take less risks to avoid hits or possible injuries. Head coach Nick Sirianni recently addressed this situation, making it clear he doesn’t want Hurts to change his approach.
Nick Sirianni says Jalen Hurts’ approach has to be the same
“We didn’t pay him more to do less. . . . We still think about how to protect him because that’s our job to protect our quarterback,” Sirianni said, as quoted by Zach Berman of TheAthletic.com. “But Jalen does a lot of things really well and we want to utilize the skills that he has.”
The Eagles will probably do whatever it takes to protect Hurts as long as that doesn’t mean he changes his way of playing. The Bills may want Josh Allen to take less risks, but that may not be the case in Philadelphia.
Patrick Mahomes addresses Hurts’ new contract
Hurts’ massive extension gave a lot to talk about around the league. Patrick Mahomes only had words of praise for his colleague, claiming Hurts earned the money after his fantastic performance in 2022.
“Congrats to him. He deserves it,” Mahomes said, via James Palmer of NFL Network. “He’s someone that plays the position the right way. He goes about his business the right way. That’s why they were in the Super Bowl and he played a great game in the Super Bowl. He proved a lot of people wrong that were still doubting him.”
