Philly Front Office

Jalen Hurts is on the precipice of immortality in Philadelphia. His journey here is not unlike that of the Eagles themselves. Anything but a straight shot, the two have had to deal with detours and roadblocks, adversity and second guesses, Tuas and Wentzes. Let’s go back and see how they (and we) got here.

January 2, 2015 – Former Eagles GM Howie Roseman loses a power struggle with Coach Chip Kelly. Instead of quitting, Howie accepts his demotion and is banished to the fringes of the Eagles offices, toiling amongst contracts while Chip Kelly begins selling off favorites like LeSean McCoy for “his guys.”

March 10, 2015 – The Eagles and coach/GM Chip Kelly trade Nick Foles and the #43 pick to the Rams for Sam Bradford and a 5th rounder. We are all baffled as to why we had to give up the higher draft pick to get a worse QB but Chip is our guy right now after a fun first season with his fast offense.

June 5, 2015 – Finishing up his junior year of high school in Texas, 4-star recruit Jalen Hurts commits early to Alabama. As a 17-year old, he participated in Alabama’s spring practices before the 2016 season. Hurts would begin his career backing up a guy named Blake Barnett.

December 29, 2015 – Chip Kelly is fired by the Eagles after his relentless offense flops in its second season. We don’t care about this though. We care that the once banished future king, Howie Roseman, reclaims his throne as the top decision maker for the Eagles.

March 9, 2016 – First order of business for Howie, trade Chip signings Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell as well as the #13 overall pick in the draft to the Dolphins for #8. The motives aren’t entirely clear at first, but this does get us off the Maxwell disaster and moves us up a little bit in the draft.

March 10, 2016 – The Eagles extend Sam Bradford for 2 years and $36m. I am not going to lie, before researching this, I would have sworn this was a Chip move but, nope, it was Howie. I can guess the reasoning was that they did not yet think they could draft a top QB in the upcoming draft and would need a mentor/stop gap for a year or two. Bradford could eventually be traded for some kind of value, right?

April 20, 2016 – The 2016 NFL Draft is fast approaching. Just a week earlier, the Rams traded up with the Titans to #1 overall presumably to take USC star Jared Goff. The Eagles, not wanting to get left behind, trade their newly acquired #8 pick as well as a 3rd, 4th, 2017 1st, and 2018 2nd to move up to #2. The prize here is small school QB, Carson Wentz. Despite the lack of pedigree, Wentz showed out in the pre-draft process with a cannon arm, good accuracy, athleticism, great decision making, and good boy small town charm.

April 28, 2016 – With Goff going #1, the Eagles make Wentz official at #2. This is also the start of a looming QB controversy. The Eagles still had recently resigned Sam Bradford, recently signed backup Chase Daniel, and now Wentz who looked like the real deal.

August 2016 – Daily training camp reports come out showing Wentz outplaying Bradford in every way. Why the hell did we resign Bradford again?

August 30, 2016 – Word out of Minnesota is that ascending starter Teddy Bridgwater was seriously hurt and would likely miss the season. The Vikings had a roster ready to compete and this was a killer. If only someone had an extra starting caliber QB out there that they weren’t using!!!

September 3, 2016 – The Eagles trade Sam Bradford to the Vikings for a 2017 first round pick and a 2018 4th, recouping some of what they lost in trading up in the draft. Wentz is named the starter. This was serendipitous in that the draft was being held in Philadelphia and the Eagles previously did not have a first round pick.

September 3rd also marked the start of the college football season for the Crimson Tide. Freshman Jalen Hurts comes off the bench to score 4 total TDs in a romp over USC.

September 10, 2016 – Not surprisingly, Jalen Hurts takes over the starting QB job at Alabama and leads the Tide to a dominant undefeated regular season scoring 36 TDs.

January 9, 2017 – Alabama loses a heart breaker to Clemson for the National Championship. Hurts runs for a 30-yard score with 2 minutes left to take the lead, but Desean Watson and the Tigers march down to score on the final play to win.

March 13, 2017 – The Eagles sign former starter Nick Foles to be the backup to Carson Wentz.

December 10, 2017 – Wentz is having a breakout season. Coming into the game against the Rams, the Eagles are 10-2, #1 in the NFC, and Wentz is the front runner for MVP. Late in the 3rd quarter of a close game, Wentz was hit diving for the endzone. Though the TD didn’t count due to a penalty, the hit did and it was determined that Wentz had torn his ACL. He was able to stay in the game a few more plays though and even threw a TD to Alshon Jeffery on one leg. The Eagles miracle season seemed over as the QB reigns were turned over to the once exiled Nick Foles.

December 25, 2017 – The Nick Foles experience is going…okay. The Eagles clinch the #1 seed in the NFC with a close win over the Raiders that wasn’t decided until Derek Barnett returned a fumble for a TD as time expired. The city is on edge.

January 1, 2018 – Jalen Hurts avenges his 2017 National Championship loss to Clemson 24-7 and is named MVP of the Sugar Bowl.

January 8, 2018 – Trailing 13-0 to Georgia in the National Championship, Jalen is benched at halftime in favor of freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tua leads the comeback and Alabama wins the National Championship. Instead of transferring, Jalen agrees to stay in Tuscaloosa and would back up Tua most of the next season.

January 13, 2018 – The Eagles start the playoffs with an absolute nailbiter against the Falcons. Foles fumbles twice and doesn’t throw a TD. The Falcons had a shot to win in the end, but a sure TD goes through the hands of Julio Jones on 4th down from the Eagles 2-yard line in the final minute. The Eagles hold on 15-10. The NFC Championship game will be next week in Philly where we will play the Vikings. The Vikings just won a miracle game against the Saints and look like a team of destiny with the Super Bowl being played in their home stadium this year.

January 21, 2018 – Nick Foles orchestrates the biggest ass-kicking Philly has ever seen in blowing the doors off the Vikings in the NFC Championship. The Eagles score 38 unanswered points led by 3 Foles TDs and some of the best throws you have ever seen. Vikings fans came in confident but left crying and berated by the Philly faithful. Poor things.

February 4, 2018 – Nick Foles leads the Eagles past the Patriots in the greatest game ever played, even catching a TD in the process. The backup becomes the #1 athlete in Philly history. The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions for the first time and the legend of BDN is born. Wentz is a total afterthought.

September 17, 2018 – After beginning the season still in recovery, Wentz makes his first start of the year for Foles in week 3. Wentz never looks fully comfortable or recovered.

December 1, 2018 – Jalen Hurts comes in for an injured Tua during the SEC Championship game in which Alabama is losing 21-28. Hurts throws the game tying TD and runs for the winner securing the comeback for the Tide in a relief role.

December 12, 2018 – Nick Foles once again relieves the injured and ineffective Wentz, rallying the Eagles to 3 straight wins and getting everyone ready for another possible miracle run.

January 6, 2019 – The “double doink” game. Foles leads the Eagles past the Bears on a last-minute TD pass to Golden Tate. Trailing 16-15, the Bears had one last shot with a 43-yard field goal try. The kick is partially blocked then hits the upright and then the cross bar before falling to the ground no good.

January 7, 2019 – Alabama is back in the National Championship game against Clemson. AJ Terrel houses a Tua throw on the 3rd play of the game and the Tigers take a 31-16 lead into halftime. No QB change this time around as Jalen watches the loss from the bench.

January 13, 2019 – Down 6 with 2 minutes to go against the Saints, Foles hits Super Bowl hero Alshon Jeffery over the middle at the Saints 20-yard line…except the ball hits off Jeffery’s hands and into a waiting Marshon Lattimore. The magic ends early.

January 16, 2019 – Jalen Hurts announces that he will not be backing up Tua another year and will transfer to the Oklahoma Sooners.

March 13, 2019 – Similarly to Jalen, Nick Foles will not be backing up Carson Wentz another year, signing with the Jaguars as a free agent, after turning down a mutual $20m option from the Eagles (the Eagles had picked up the option btw).

June 6, 2019 – Despite the season again ending with Nick Foles, the Eagles extend Carson Wentz with a then-massive 4 year, $128m contract. The Eagles fully commit to Wentz.

December 14, 2019 – Jalen Hurts finishes runner-up for the Heisman Trophy after a monster 52 TD season in Norman.

January 5, 2020 – Carson Wentz leads the Eagles to the playoffs with a 9-7 record after a solid season of 27 TDs and only 7 picks. On the 4th offensive play of the game for the Eagles, Carson is scrambling and already going down when Jadaveon Clowney dives on his head. No flag was thrown for the dirty hit, but Wentz would leave the game a few plays later with a concussion. The Eagles lost 17-9.

April 24, 2020 – With the 53rd pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select Jalen Hurts out of the University of Oklahoma. Stunned. The Eagles had signed Wentz to an extension less than a year ago but still drafted Hurts in the second round. The reasoning was that signing a back-up would be very expensive and a guy who plays like Carson needs a solid backup. Assuming everything goes well, Hurts could be flipped down the line at a huge profit. Apparently, no one explained this to Jalen or Carson.

Summer 2020 – From the first day of training camp and through all the practices, Jalen Hurts carries himself like a leader and in competition for the starting QB job. Stories of Hurts ingratiating himself with all of his teammates and working harder than everyone start to come out.

December 6, 2020 – After compiling a dreadful 3-7-1 record and throwing almost as many picks as TDs, Wentz is benched in favor of Hurts. Jalen is named the starter going forward two days later. He wins his first start against the hated Saints. Wentz’s cannon arm, good accuracy, athleticism, great decision making, and good boy small town charm are all gone.

March 17, 2021 – All off-season it wasn’t “if” the eagles would trade Wentz, it was “when” and how much they could get for the damaged goods. Wentz was apparently never comfortable with the team rallying around Foles twice and could not handle the alpha personality of Hurts despite just getting a massive contract. He was spooked and never looked comfortable with Hurts backing him up. Despite this, the Eagles still managed to get a 2022 first round pick for him (and a 2021 3rd). Through a few trades, that pick turned into Jalen Carter. It was now officially Jalen Hurts’s team.

December 18, 2022 – On a cold day in Chicago, Hurts took a sack and was driven into the ground on his shoulder. The Eagles improved to 13-1 but would be without Hurts, who was the MVP front runner at the time, the next two weeks. Things were eerily similar to 2017, but Nick Foles was not coming through that door.

January 8, 2023 – Jalen Hurts returns to wrap up the NFC East and the #1 seed.

January 29, 2023 – Hurts leads the Eagles past a crying and butthurt 49ers team in the NFC Championship. Offensive genius Kyle Shanahan decides it would be best not to block defensive menace and game wrecker Hassan Reddick, allowing his QB to get massacred. The Eagles were headed back to the Super Bowl.

February 12, 2023 – It was by all accounts a sad day, but Jalen Hurts showed that he belonged in the upper echelon of QBs, out-dueling Patrick Mahomes. Hurts made one mistake all game (a shockingly dropped fumble) but put the Eagles on his back when his defensive showed no resistance. A weak holding penalty on the final possession took a possible Super Bowl winning drive out of Jalen’s hands. He finished with 4 TDs.

April 17, 2023 – Hurts signs a 5 year, $255m extension, briefly making him the highest paid player in football. The Eagles were committed to Jalen Hurts.

February 9, 2025 – Wentz is now the backup in KC, the Eagles opponent in Super Bowl 59. Hurts is in the Super Bowl for the second time and looking to erase all of the doubts that have crept in for everyone since he signed that contract. Every week he is attacked by the media and fans alike for being the player he has always been. Another performance like Super Bowl 57 and no one will be able to question him ever again.

Funny side note: That extension Carson signed with the Eagles would only be expiring now, right after the Super Bowl.

Update: We fucking won. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts forever!