Jalen Hurts spent the spring building chemistry with new OC Kevin Patullo. Next up: ‘Figure out how to make it go.’
Hurts is entering his sixth season with his sixth play-caller. He made it seem as if this season should be an easier adjustment than learning Kellen Moore's offense, which was "95% new."
Jalen Hurts finished off the Eagles’ offseason program in a familiar situation, discussing unfamiliarity.
The quarterback has spent so many springs working through the growing pains of a new offensive system that he seemingly has stopped bothering to keep a tally of the various play-calling changes he has gone through during his career.
“Six?” Hurts asked a reporter who mentioned the number after Tuesday’s practice.
“I don’t count.”
Six, indeed. And after working with Doug Pederson, Nick Sirianni, Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson, and Kellen Moore on the headset the last five years, Hurts said his last few weeks working within the framework of an offense authored by new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo have been a transition aided by past experiences.
“I’ve treated this offseason like I’ve treated every offseason, coming in and trying to learn as much as I can,” Hurts said Tuesday. “Trying to develop that chemistry with the play-caller. As offensive leadership changes — it’s about depositing time into it. I’ve spent a lot of time and we’ve had some valuable conversations that I think will help us all in the end."
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Hurts said that the consistent churning of offensive leaders he’s had during his career has made him better at starting over compared to offseasons past. And one year removed from raising eyebrows by saying Moore’s system and terminology were “probably 95% new,” Hurts was more measured Tuesday when assessing how the Eagles offense will look with Patullo stepping into the play-calling role.
“It’s too soon,” Hurts said. “He’s been a great leader in what he’s been asked to do. I feel he has a great command, and I think that will only grow over time. We’ll get later down the road and we’ll see how sequencing is. A lot of teams around the league run very similar plays, it’s a matter of how you teach them and what are the details within the play and then how you sequence it as you call a game. So, he’ll find that.”
Unlike Moore last season, Patullo isn’t an entirely new voice, though. With Patullo spending the previous four years as the team’s passing game coordinator, the transition has been more about him becoming the leader in meeting rooms rather than one of the supporting members.
Speaking before the team’s one and only day of mandatory minicamp Tuesday, Sirianni said Patullo’s preexisting relationship with the players and familiarity with the evolution of the offense under different coaches have made this a more seamless coordinator change than ones in the past.
“He’s got a relationship with these players,” Sirianni said. “Whereas Kellen had to come in and build relationships, Kevin’s been around these players going on five years now. So I see Kevin pushing those guys, going out there being able to get those guys going whether it’s a high five to them or, ‘Hey, get your butt going,’ because he has that relationship with the guys that he’s been building.”
Hurts added, “He’s already had a mark on all of the team since Coach Sirianni and himself have been here. We’re just building. Far from where we want to be, but we’re trying to build that and continue to grow.”
That familiarity makes it fair to wonder whether the Eagles offense will look much different with Patullo making the calls. Even with Moore’s “95% new” system last season, the offense eventually reverted to some of the familiar concepts the Eagles have often run with Hurts under center during his career. That reversion led to a more cautious version of Hurts, perhaps overly cautious, during the regular season, but bore fruit during dominant showings in the NFC championship game and Super Bowl LIX.
Hurts acknowledged that the playbook has held on to some of the favored concepts implemented by past offensive coordinators over the years, but noted that most of those concepts’ usage will largely hinge on Patullo’s willingness to call the plays.
They will likely hinge on Hurts’ input to a certain degree as well.
“There is a dynamic of adaptability that you have to be able to have to find success,” Hurts said. “Regardless of what the leadership looks like, what the voice is, who’s in the quarterback room coaching me, or who is out there calling plays. That’s where I put a lot of my energy at, trying to decode these things and kind of figure it out on my terms a little bit and figure out how to make it go.”