Minus Jason Kelce, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts will be making the O-line protection calls starting Friday

When the Eagles offense takes the field Friday against Green Bay in São Paulo, Brazil, Jalen Hurts’ voice will carry even more weight than it has in years past.

Going into his fourth season as Eagles starting quarterback, Hurts’ list of pre-snap responsibilities will include making protection calls more often now that Jason Kelce won’t be handling line adjustments. It’s a responsibility Hurts has wanted to take on in the past, he said, but something the coaching staff told him to concede to the now-retired center because of his experience and knowledge in that role.

“There’s just different autonomy in different places,” Hurts said during an interview with 94.1 WIP last week, ahead of the season opener at Corinthians Arena. “We had a great player here in Jason Kelce who took on a lot of responsibilities and as a result of that, I was told not to worry about a lot of things. My eagerness to learn and all of that over the years kind of was halted because of who we had, but now times are different and I’m excited for that journey.”

During his Sunday news conference, coach Nick Sirianni affirmed Hurts’ characterization of his previous, less-involved role compared to his new one.

“There’s things that happen at the line of scrimmage — there’s some teams that it’s all the quarterback, and some teams where it’s all the center, and some teams that it’s a mix,” Sirianni said. “It was Jalen being able to do some other things at the line of scrimmage and Kelce handling a big portion of it. Yeah, what he said is 100% true.”

Considering how often the Eagles struggled against the blitz during the team’s poor finish to last season, Hurts’ ability to diagnose and sort out pressure looks will be paramount both in the season opener and beyond.

According to Pro Football Focus, Hurts faced extra rushers at the second-highest rate behind only the Packers’ Jordan Love last season, with opposing defenses blitzing him 38.7% of the time. Especially during the team’s 1-6 stretch to close out the year, Hurts struggled against the blitz and the Eagles offense was slow to adjust, often forcing him to evade the rush and extend plays rather than targeting receivers on hot routes.

Even with the uncertainties that come with every team’s season opener, the Eagles know opposing defenses will be eager to test their ability to pick up extra rushers early and often this season and have harped on it during the summer as a result. The Packers ranked 10th in blitz rate last season, sending extra rushers 29.3% of the time, and an uptick to test Hurts is certainly on the table.

“Jalen has become more vocal,” Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson said. “He’s become a much bigger part of that since Kelce’s gone. It’s been good, we’ve been trying to throw a lot of different blitz packages during practice, having hot checks, that’s been a point of emphasis really all camp. I think teams are going to look at last year’s film and, until we stop it, I think those things are going to keep coming.”

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Entering his first year as Eagles offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore noted toward the end of training camp that going against defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s newly implemented scheme had given his starting group plenty of meaningful reps against the blitz.

It’s also worth noting that, while the starting offense didn’t get any playing time in the preseason, the Eagles’ slate of games featured two teams that finished in the top five in blitz rate last season for Moore to test his system.

“We got some great work the last few days just from pressure standpoint,” Moore said last month. “Vic obviously, in his installation process is going through that, and so it’s great stuff. It’s great stuff because it requires all 11 to be on the same page, all 11 communicating, taking care of business. It’s excellent for Jalen, for our whole group.”

Hurts acknowledged during his Sunday news conference that his duties during the week are slightly different when it comes to handling the way the front operates. Cam Jurgens will also have some say in how to sort things out as Kelce’s replacement and has talked about the two working collaboratively during meetings and at the line of scrimmage.

“Where we are right now, I’m walking into a year when I have new roles and responsibilities,” Hurts said. “Everybody has new roles and responsibilities on each team each year. Because no team is the same as you go year to year. I’m just excited for this group, my role in that group — we always talk about dominating your box and accepting your role and doing that.”