Jason Kelce was the heart of the Philadelphia Eagles but that baton has been passed on to quarterback Jalen Hurts.
It's a lot of responsibility and something that Hurts is still getting used to.
The Eagles' QB1 opened up about how much his role has changed now that Kelce's leadership presence is no longer a part of the team's huddle.
“We had a great player in Jason Kelce who took on a lot of responsibility, and as a result of that I was told not to worry about a lot of things,” Hurts said this week on 94.1 WIP. “And so my eagerness to learn over the years kind of was halted because of who we had.”
It's not like Hurts didn't have any leadership responsibilities or didn't want to learn, but when you take away a player who has been a part of the same team for 13 years, it certainly changes things.
Head coach Nick Sirianni explained it perfectly ahead of the Eagles' Week 1 matchup.
"There's things that happen at the line of scrimmage, there are some teams where it's all the quarterback, there are some teams it's all the center, there are some teams where that's a mix," Sirianni said. "It was Jalen being able to do some other things at the line of scrimmage and Kelce handled a big portion of it. Yea, what he said his 100% true."
With Kelce out of the picture, Hurts has taken full charge of the Eagles' new offense under Kellen Moore and he's done an exceptional job of it.
“I see the same Jalen, the guy who’s working his butt off to help us win this first game,” Sirianni continued. "Working his butt off to make sure this team is in good position and he’s playing his best ball because we need him to play good football for us to have a chance week in and week out.
"Again, I think he’s had an outstanding training camp, just with everything, the way he’s played, the way he’s passed, the way he’s led, all those different things. Every year I’ve felt his will and desire to win. The guy’s a winner. He’s been a winner his entire life and he knows how to win, and he goes about that process every day to win better than everybody I’ve ever been around.”
Fans will get their first look at this Eagles team that essentially now belongs to Hurts on Friday night when the Birds kickoff in Brazil against the Green Bay Packers.
