Can Jalen Hurts Limit the Turnovers in 2024
Jalen Hurts’ rise in the NFL has been an awesome one to watch for Eagles fans. After his controversial draft selection in 2020, he’s quickly taken over the Eagles starting quarterback job with plenty of success to boot. In 2022 Hurts was great, but things went south dramatically in 2023. While Hurts still put up good stats regarding yards and touchdowns, he had a major flaw that handicapped the team in 2023. In 2022, Hurts only had eight total turnovers, in 2023, he had 20 turnovers including 15 interceptions. Hurts wasn’t the only problem for the Eagles in 2023, but he wasn’t the solution either. The NFL will always be dependent on the turnover battle and if Hurts can limit his turnovers like in 2022, the ceiling will be as high as ever for both him and the team in 2024.
A Look at Hurts’ Interceptions
Every Jalen Hurts interception from this season (15) .
Jalen’s fault :
Miss Communication:
Fluke:
Hail Mary: 1How would you categorize these Ints? #Eagles pic.twitter.com/cMA6L3t0nh
— Laz🇱🇷🦅 (@Philly_Laz) January 26, 2024
Some of Hurts’ interceptions boil down to tipped balls or forced deep balls to make a play when it was needed. However, without those turnovers, there’s a glaring similarity in his interceptions in 2023. About half of them were throws that were either underthrown or undercut due to a lack of velocity. In many of these, Hurts is throwing off his backfoot or doesn’t seem to be fully stepping into the throw. A good example is his interception against the Kansas City Chiefs. A.J. Brown gets separation on an in-breaking route about 18 yards down the field. However, Hurts doesn’t step into the throw and cannot get enough power behind it and the corner undercuts the throw. This is a common theme with many of the interceptions Hurts threw.
However, there are also times when Hurts just didn’t see the field well. His third interception against the New York Jets is just a really bad decision. He doesn’t see the Linebacker who dropped back and was waiting to make a play on the curl to the tight end. Another example is the interception to the Minnesota Vikings, where he throws a late ball to another in-breaking route. Not only does he miss the player sitting underneath the receiver, who undercuts the throw. But the receiver Is running right into another Vikings player in the middle of the field, who would’ve made a play on the ball if the corner didn’t. Hurts’ interception problems last year mainly came from those two things.
Jalen Hurts and Kellen Moore in 2024
Hurts has a strong arm and has shown the capability to read defenses in the NFL. Yet, he will need to show more consistency and caution in 2024. He also needs to rely less on his pure arm strength and make sure he can have full power and velocity behind his throws. New Eagles offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, will have a big influence on that. Moore’s offense will take Hurts out of the shotgun as much and add more play-action plays, hopefully taking some of the onus off Hurts. Hurts has already left a positive impression on Moore. With the apparent disconnect between Jalen Hurts and Brian Johnson’s offense last year, it seems like Hurts is making a bigger effort to get on the same page as Moore. Their relationship will be crucial to the Eagles offense this year, and making sure Hurts gets back on track.
Main Photo: [Kim Klement Neitzel] – USA Today Sports
