Eagles combine notebook: Sirianni on Hurts' assertiveness originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
For the Eagles’ coaching staff and front office, it probably felt like they went right from the parade down Broad Street to Indianapolis for the Combine.
The NFL offseason shrinks a bit when you win a Super Bowl. But Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni, the Eagles’ brass and scouts were all in Indianapolis this week for the NFL’s annual Scouting Combine.
With free agency a little over a week away, let’s clean out the notebook from Indianapolis:
Hurts getting assertive
A few days after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX, Jalen Hurts stood by his locker back at the NovaCare Complex and answered questions. One of those questions was about the offensive coordinator position — which ultimately went to Kevin Patullo — and one part of Hurts’ answer really stood out to me.
“I think the most important thing when you move forward, it’s about trying to build that chemistry,” Hurts said. “I think for us as an offense, the more assertive I became throughout the year, the more in sync, the more complementary, the more rhythm we had.”
The Eagles have had a lot of turnover with their offensive staff during Hurts’ career and he has publicly talked about wanting more continuity. Patullo is now the fourth OC under Sirianni in five years but it seems like Hurts is now more comfortable with asserting himself in the offense. And he should be. He’s a veteran quarterback coming off a Super Bowl MVP.
At the Combine on Tuesday, I asked Sirianni about what Hurts said.
“We talk all the time,” Sirianni answered. “Jalen talked to Kellen all the time, Jalen talked to Kevin all the time, Nuss (former QBs coach Doug Nussmeier) all the time, myself. That’s just the process that you go through with your quarterback of what they’re comfortable with, what they’re doing well. How can we expand the things that we’re doing well? How can we dabble in some stuff that maybe we haven’t done as much that we did in training camp? I think that’s just part of the process.
“Jalen has done such a good job of letting us know the things … When the quarterback goes out there and has 100 percent confidence in what’s about to be called, with Jalen Hurts, he’s going to make it work. So that’s just part of the daily process. I think he did a great job of that.”
Howie all healed up
If you look closely, you can still see where a beer can slammed into Roseman’s forehead at the Super Bowl parade.
“I’m OK,” Roseman said on Tuesday. “It wasn’t great Friday night but I powered through it Friday during the day. But it was worth it. … I don’t want to say it was worth it because then people will start throwing (beer cans) at my head.”
Roseman parlayed his injury into the perfect line when it was his turn to give a speech on the art museum steps: “I bleed for this city!”
A couple weeks later, Roseman said he felt fine.
“The head’s better,” he said. “I’m a little less handsome than I was a couple weeks ago but I’m not sure I had a lot to go there anyway.”
Saquon’s workload
Saquon Barkley had one of the best seasons ever for a running back and it came with a huge workload. Believe it or not, his touches per game actually went up in the playoffs. In 20 games this season, Barkley finished with 482 touches in the regular season and playoffs combined.
That’s the 10th most touches for any player in NFL history in a season and the most since DeMarco Murray had 497 back in 2014. You probably don’t need a reminder of what Murray’s 2015 season was like after joining the Eagles.
“We know that it took a lot on his body this year because of how many touches he had,” Sirianni said. “It’s going to be about the maintenance in the offseason and training camp and OTAs and in practice to get him ready to go. If he needs to carry it 25 times for us to win, then that’s a good option that you can have. I think we saw particularly in that last game of the year that we can win other ways. I loved what Jalen said: Just because we aren’t doing something doesn’t mean we can’t.
“We have a lot of good options to do that and Saquon had a heck of a year and I think the guys, pat on the back to all the people in the organization that helped manage to get him week in and week and to Saquon himself for keeping his body healthy for the long haul. We hope to do the same thing next year.”
While there are plenty of examples of running backs not having great years after a heavy workload season, Terrell Davis is the all-time leader in touches in a season with 531 in 1997. The next year, Davis had 499 and set the NFL’s all-time record for rushing yards in a regular season and playoffs — a record Barkley took down in Super Bowl LIX.
Time for bigger roles
Roseman on Tuesday, for the second straight offseason, stressed the importance of getting young players on the field. The Eagles have a lot of good players who are getting paid a lot of money so getting quality snaps out of players on rookie deals is imperative.
The Eagles probably won’t be able to bring back Josh Sweat and Milton Williams in free agency but their replacements might already be in house. Both DT Moro Ojomo (a 2023 seventh-round pick) and DE Jalyx Hunt (a 2024 third-round pick) played meaningful snaps in the Super Bowl season and will likely have bigger roles in 2025.
“Very impressed by what they showed in their play time,” Roseman said. “Obviously, didn’t play a tremendous amount. They’re young players who have the tools in their bodies to be really good players. Expect a jump from both those guys.”
In his second season, Ojomo played 388 defensive snaps (37%) and played another 102 (38%) in the four playoff games. Ojomo got his first career sack late in the win over the Rams in the divisional round. Despite it taking that long for a sack, he was productive in 2024.
In his rookie year, Hunt played 241 snaps (23%) and another 103 (38%) in the playoffs. After having 1 1/2 sacks in 16 games in the regular season, Hunt had 1 1/2 sacks in 4 playoff games. His development over the course of one season was extremely impressive.
Not worried about his contract
A year ago, the Eagles were considering moving on from Sirianni. But after winning a Super Bowl, it’s time to give the man a contract extension. Sirianni is set to enter the final year of the five-year deal he signed when he became the Eagles’ head coach in 2021 and good organizations don’t let their coach go into a lame duck season.
At some point this offseason, it’s expected that Jeffrey Lurie will get Sirianni an extension. As of Tuesday, Sirianni said all of his time had been taken up by exit interviews and interviewing to fill spots on his coaching staff.
“Those things take care of themselves. Not concerned about that,” Sirianni said about his contract. “Those things will take care of themselves My biggest job right now is to get good guys around us with the coaches that we hire. And I think it’s such an important part of the process, the end-of-year meetings. ‘What went right? What went wrong? Who’s somebody around the building who’s helping you do your job that is somebody in the support staff? What do you want to work on? Let’s talk about your position coach, your coordinator.’ That takes so much time. When I’m out of there, I get to see a little bit of my kids’ sporting events now. That’s what’s taking up all my time. Those things will take care of themselves.”
Vic wants perfection
The Eagles held a team meeting the day before their parade to go over the logistics of the celebration. During that meeting, Sirianni acted like he was going to start talking football and then told his players he was joking.
But Vic Fangio did want to talk some football.
The Eagles’ veteran defensive coordinator asked Sirianni to tell the defensive players to stay after the team meeting wrapped up. Rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt, in an interview with " target="_blank" class="link"> PeteTakes on YouTube, explained that Fangio wanted to go over the defense’s checklist for the game and called the second half “unacceptable.”
“That’s who Vic is,” Sirianni said with a smile. “That’s what makes him great. Relentless detail to get better.”
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