Jalen Hurts, who is 24 years old, is about to enter the final year of his second-round rookie deal, which will pay him little more than $4.2 million in the year 2023. Given that he is coming off a fantastic season, it is evident that this makes him outrageously underpaid. In 2023, Hurts finished in second place for the MVP award and led the Eagles to victory in Super Bowl LVII.
Although the longstanding general manager of the Eagles may occasionally play coy in certain situations, this is not one of those instances. The Eagles are not interested in receiving a discount on Jalen Hurts, therefore they will not receive one even if they are offered one.
They are just interested in finding the answer.
Because Hurts is their franchise quarterback and they want to contract him to a long-term agreement before he starts the 2023 season on the final year of his rookie deal, the Titans want to sign Hurts to an extension during this summer.
On Monday, during the annual NFL owners meetings held at the opulent Arizona Biltmore resort, Roseman brought up Hurts’ name before he could even be asked about him. Hell, he even brought it up before he could be asked about Hurts.
“It’s no secret that sometime relatively soon we want to extend our quarterback,” Roseman said. “Our whole kind of roster building is going to turn a little bit here from a quarterback on a rookie deal towards hopefully a quarterback on a long-term deal. Not that we have anything done or anything but that’s obviously our goal, is to keep Jalen here for a long time.”
In response to a question about whether or not there had been any movement on a long-term deal with Hurts, Roseman declined to provide any specifics.
“I think what I said was we want him here long-term,” Roseman said. “He’s going into the last year of his deal and so that’s going to be a priority for us to extend him.”
“I think you have to navigate the offseason understanding that we’re not going to lose our franchise quarterback with one year left on his deal,” Roseman said. “Whatever that means, it’s going to mean that 2024 is going to look different. We’re not going to have a quarterback on a rookie deal. Obviously, not that we’re talking about (franchise) tags or anything like that, that’s not our goal there, but we’re going into it with our eyes open and understanding that we got to kind of flip it.”
In the regular season of the 2023 season, the Eagles were led by Hurts to a record of 14-1. He threw for 3,701 yards, completed 66.5% of his throws, and had 22 touchdowns to go along with 6 interceptions. In addition, he rushed for 760 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. He was an outstanding individual in every respect.
The fact that two additional elite-level quarterbacks, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, are also due for contract extensions this summer is one probable explanation for the sense of urgency surrounding this year’s events, in addition to the obvious. There is a possibility that whichever of the three contracts is completed first will serve as the new benchmark for the other two.