For months, we’ve all been trying to figure out just how much of the Eagles’ 2024 offense would come from Kellen Moore and how much would come from Nick Sirianni.
Jalen Hurts finally gave an answer.
The Eagles’ franchise quarterback, in an unusually expansive explanation on Thursday afternoon, said about 95% of the offense is new this season.
Here’s his full expansive answer:
“I think this whole entire offseason, it’s been about learning. Learning and taking in new knowledge, new perspective with the minds that we have in the room. I think throughout the whole entire thing, that’s kind of been the emphasis. You get to a point where you kind of feel, ‘Hey, I’m going to feel comfortable with this, I’m going to like this.’ But that time comes when you can rep it, rep it, rep it later on.
“But right now, it’s been a lot of new inventory in. Majority of it, probably 95% of it being new. It’s just been that process and it’s been a fun process because you get to see what works for other people. The number of coaches that I’ve had since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to take in a lot of new knowledge and new understanding. So I think the goal coming in was to learn Kellen’s offense and master it and I think that’s been a process and I think by the end of it, I want it to be mine and have it in my own way.
“I think that’s kind of a credit to the lack of continuity with that and it being a thing where I’ve kind of had to take all these new things and new voices and still go out there and be successful and efficient. I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen again.”
In five practices open to reporters this spring, the Eagles’ offense definitely struggled at times but that’s more understandable after you realize how much of what they’re installing is new. They will have to work out some of the kinks in training camp.
But Hurts’ ultimate goal is to find a level of ownership over what they’re running.
“I think there’s a ton of good in all the reps that we got, just going out there and competing and getting as close as we can to 11-on football,” he said. “Obviously, just doing a majority 7-on-7 but I thought it was a great time, I thought I had a great offseason here just learning and taking in everything. Now the next step is just to build and spend some of the time we’re going to spend together in the offseason with the receivers and whatnot. But coming back to training camp ready to go.”
Sirianni initially said he was going to hire an offensive coordinator to “be in charge” of the offense. But then after Moore was hired, we heard a bunch about the collaborative process and the blending of two systems. The Eagles didn’t want to get rid of what had actually worked in the previous offense, right?
But it’s clear that Sirianni is more hands-off when it comes to the offense this season as he takes over as a CEO-type of head coach. The offense the Eagles will run in 2024 is Moore’s, although plenty of concepts overlap.
That’s why Hurts said he wasn’t surprised that so much of the system is new this year.
“Well, no I’m not,” Hurts said. “But I think the bigger picture of football, a lot of things are similar. Right? You can look on the internet and see ‘these guys are running this play’ or whatever. But you never know what that player is being coached to do, you never know how they’re being taught to do it, how they’re executing it.
“So that’s exactly what makes it different. The X’s and O’s, the lines on the paper, they may very well be what they’re supposed to be but how I coach and how I detail these routes, how I coach the quarterback, what I want his timing to be, where I want him looking, where I want his eyes. Are receivers reading routes? Are they not reading routes? Are there alerts on this? Are there checks and adjustments built in on this? Or is there something that someone has to do, that the quarterback has to do? That’s what makes a system a system.”
And the Eagles have a new system under Moore and his right-hand man, quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier — who has received the moniker of “Coach Doug” from Hurts.
When the Eagles wanted to rejuvenate a stale offense by bringing in a new OC, it drew comparisons to the plan in 2020, when Rich Scangarello was dropped into the lap of Doug Pederson as a senior offensive assistant. The plan in 2020 was for Scangarello to infuse Pederson’s offense with some elements from the Kyle Shanahan offense in San Francisco. It didn’t work. At all.
But this is different. Moore comes to Philly with some serious power and he isn’t coming alone. Nussmeier also takes over for Alex Tanney in the quarterback room as the top voice in Hurts’ ear.
“I love the dynamic that has been put in place as far as everyone has a role and that’s the goal, is everybody do their job,” Hurts said. “That goes for everyone. Just learning as much as I can from Coach. Kellen is a mild-mannered person, where he’s laid back, bigger picture, has his hands on pretty much everything. Coach Doug is all about putting me in the best position to succeed and preparing me to play at a high level.”
It’s not that the Eagles’ offense was terrible in 2023. In fact, plenty of folks in the building will remind you that it was a top-10 unit last year. But that’s not good enough. The Eagles are full of talent and need their offense to be elite in 2024.
After all, that’s why they made this major change.
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