After a tough loss week one to the Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Eagles may be pulling out all the stops to ensure a win on Sunday. Expanding the playbook may be one way to get things rolling on offense and rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts could be the key to that.
Hurts will be active Sunday for the first time in his NFL career against the Rams.
Jalen Hurts is active today for the #Eagles after being inactive last week. He’s the No. 2 QB. Could we see him on the field? 🤔
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 20, 2020
Hurts was selected in the second round of the NFL draft and was able to take reps with the first team offense during training camp when quarterback Carson Wentz was out with a leg injury.
Head coach Doug Pederson was asked earlier this week about what Hurts would need to do in order to able to suit up as an active player on Sundays and if there may be anything special in store for the rookie.
“No. I think that’s a week-to-week discussion that we have as far as the backup quarterbacks,” said Pederson. “You’d love to have all three quarterbacks up. We had [QB] Nate [Sudfeld] up this past weekend, and we make those determinations on really, injuries, and where we are as a team moving forward.
“But I would say that if he were up, he doesn’t necessarily have to be a part of the game plan in any specific way.”
Although Hurts’ activation comes off as simply a move to add some depth, Pederson did hint that having three quarterbacks active could open up the gates for different styles of play.
“I mean, why wouldn’t you [want to have all three active]?” Pederson responded. “If you’re good at every position — it goes back to when I was a quarterback. I was the third guy and I was — of course the rules were different but I dressed every week, and you were kind of that emergency third and it would be great to have your three guys up because it does give you some versatility if you wanted to do something with the other two guys.”
The Eagles take on the Los Angeles Rams at 12:00 p.m. CT.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
