Inside the makeup of Jalen Hurts: Overly stoic leader or just quiet and misunderstood?

Jalen Hurts didn’t address the Eagles following the devastating loss to the Arizona Cardinals on New Year’s Eve. Nick Sirianni did most of the talking in the home locker room at Lincoln Financial Field. But when the coach stepped aside for the quarterback to deliver a last message before the team prayer, Brandon Graham spoke up instead.

Hurts has broken down the players’ huddle after pregame warmups on the field and in the locker room following victories, but on this occasion and after the season-ending embarrassment at the New York Giants last week, it was the veteran Graham who took the microphone.

“He do losses, too. I just happen to do it when he doesn’t have the words to say at the time,” Graham said of his fellow captain. “I respect that, too, because I always be thinking about what I can say just in case he don’t say nothing.

» READ MORE: Inside Jason Kelce’s mentorship ahead of a potentially fateful playoff run

“I just kind of look at him and I can tell if he’s about to say something, and I can tell if he ain’t.”

Hurts’ renowned stoicism, though, often leaves his actions — or, more accurately, the lack thereof — open to interpretation. When the Eagles are winning, his emotionless personality is viewed by many as steady leadership at its finest. And when they’re losing — as has been the case in five of their last six games — it can be seen as the opposite.

Those are binary narratives often created from outside the NovaCare Complex. Inside the Eagles, there is an understanding that many variables have contributed to the team’s tailspin, with the quarterback’s uneven performance this season being just one.

But there is also a belief from some key members of the organization that if Hurts — for all of his positive traits — could open himself up a little more, improve his body language, and take more ownership even when he’s not at fault, it could help the team in times of distress, Eagles sources said to The Inquirer.

This is a critique that has been suggested since before the recent slide.

Hurts has had a few changes in his football life since nearly carrying the Eagles to a Super Bowl title a year ago. But he isn’t much different than he was when he rose from Carson Wentz’s rookie backup to franchise quarterback just three years later, various team members have said.

Just as many Eagles would rather Hurts stay authentic to himself than adopt an identity that is false to him. He has long dealt with preconceived notions on how he should outwardly behave after defeats — and even after wins — when he believes his teams haven’t met a standard.

“A lot of people are going to tell you how to handle something [and] they’re not in that position,” Hurts said recently. “I know personally, I’ve been looked like that for a long time because there’s value in losing and that does something to you. As a competitor, it drives you, pushes you forward.

“You don’t want to feel those feelings when you came up short in situations. Every competitor is different. Every competitor handles and channels different emotions in different ways.”

But a thin line can exist between staying true to oneself and accepting that modifications are needed. Sometimes it takes a tough stretch, fair or not, to magnify the characteristics that have contributed to a team’s and a quarterback’s regression.

Some Eagles leaders have had difficult conversations with Hurts, team sources said. But there are questions as to whether enough of the right voices have been the messengers and if he is amenable to criticism.

“I think it depends on who you dealing with, depends on the moments, depends on what’s going on,” Hurts said when asked if he needed to break out of his shell during turbulent periods. “Different teams, different people, require different things.”

Graham, who has seen about it all in his 14 seasons in Philadelphia, said he’s been in Hurts’ ear about how he can control the narrative about his in-game and sideline demeanor.

“I just want to help because I see what people point out,” Graham said last week. “It’s like, at the end of the day, I know what I know about you, and what they’re trying to portray is not that. I try to help him on that part. I’m not saying that I look at all that, but if I can help somebody because I know they got that in them to be able to go above and beyond.

“In moments — and I’m not talking outside, I’m just saying on the field — you’ve got a lot of people that’s looking to you because you are the guy that’s in the position.”

Hurts, Sirianni and the Eagles have an opportunity in Monday night’s first-round playoff game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to dispel perceptions that last season was an anomaly and show that they can capture last season’s magic against prevailing winds of doubt.

» READ MORE: Eagles beat writers make their predictions for the wild-card matchup against the Bucs

For the third straight year, Hurts will enter the postseason at less than 100 percent. He dislocated the middle finger on his right throwing hand at the Giants and will likely have to wear bandaging, a glove, or both at Tampa.

Hurts is human, after all, despite even his older brother, Averion Jr., once describing him as “always a robot” in a Sports Illustrated cover story in August. Many within the Eagles are cognizant of the obstacles he’s had to overcome in his career and the reasons he has built up his defenses.

They understand the pressures that come with the $255 million contract he signed in the offseason, and how the loss of offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and opposing defenses catching up to Sirianni’s scheme have affected him.

Hurts may not be perfect — who is? — but there are far worse traits to have than being serious-minded. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith, one of the quarterback’s closest friends on the Eagles, is built similarly.

“I don’t think he gives a [bleep] at all,” Smith said of interpretations of Hurts’ stoicism. “I wouldn’t give a [bleep]. But that’s him. Everybody has their ways, everybody has the type of person they are. And that’s him — he’s a serious person and he’s serious about his craft.

“There’s nothing wrong with that at all.”

In the larger picture, that may be true. But in the insular world of the NFL, and specifically, being a franchise quarterback, every inch counts. And if Hurts wants to reach that next level, he may need to reevaluate his process.

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees — they had their flaws. Patrick Mahomes can’t seem to stop displaying frustration whenever a Kansas City Chiefs receiver has dropped one of his passes this season. But those quarterbacks were/are perennial winners.

Hurts finished as runner-up to Mahomes in MVP voting last season and went toe-to-toe with him in Super Bowl LVII. He has many of the necessary intangibles to be elite — “triple threat” ability, as he likes to call it, an unrelenting work ethic, and a determination in football that stretches back to high school.

But some within the Eagles want him to allow for room on top.

“He’s a good kid,” a team source said. “He’s not going to go out drinking, partying. He’s not that guy. He comes in and does his work. But he has to include other people. He has to stop with the look of, ‘I have no emotion.’ It’s an emotional game. Everybody has emotions. That’s part of the deal.

“The more you give, the more you get back in return.”

Because Hurts is all about football, most of his important interactions at NovaCare are overwhelmingly with Sirianni, offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, quarterbacks coach Alex Tanney, center Jason Kelce, receiver A.J. Brown, and Smith.

But he isn’t exactly an island. Hurts does interact with players outside his circle. He’ll have lunch in the cafeteria with practice squad members, according to punt returner Britain Covey. He has relationships with various staff members, and even gave a shout-out to locker room attendant Tony Santiago during the Eagles’ playoff run a year ago.

The outgoing Covey, who may be the polar opposite of Hurts in temperament, is of the opinion that authenticity is most important when it comes to quarterbacks and head coaches.

“There’s always room for improvement. Being able to analyze yourself is very difficult and that’s when you need mentors to help you out,” Covey said. “So, yes, it’s not like Jalen is perfect. … I think it’s just better than the alternative of asking everyone what they think you should be or do, and then pretty soon an effort to become everything to everyone, you become no one.”

In the quarterback room, Hurts is mostly business, according to backups Marcus Mariota and Tanner McKee. There are brief moments of levity, especially when the going is good. But the focus is football, Hurts, and recently, fixing the offense.

In down spells, Hurts may play pool with Mariota and McKee. He typically wins at 8-ball, they said. The quarterbacks exchanged gifts at Christmas and Hurts and McKee coincidentally gave each other wallets.

“He gave me Gucci and I gave him Louis Vuitton,” McKee said.

McKee and Mariota have spent time with each other away from the facility because the first-year Eagles’ wives have become friends. McKee said he gifted Mariota a couple’s massage based on his wife’s suggestion.

The rookie quarterback cited the recent Brown-organized team outing to an escape room as an occasion when he has hung with Hurts outside NovaCare. But Hurts tends to keep to himself away from the team, which is generally how he behaves in the locker room.

McKee said Hurts will help with pointers, but he feels obligated to ask first. It took a little courage, at first, he said. Others have found the quarterback difficult to approach.

“I’ve played for coaches before that claim to have an open-door policy and their door is always open, but they’re really intimidating,” Covey said. “And I think that Jalen is similar to that in that he has an open-door policy, but because of his personality, at times, if [you’re a new player and] haven’t been around him enough, it can be a little bit intimidating.”

That could explain why, in some part, many misconstrue why he often sits alone in between offensive series. He’ll review plays on the iPad with Johnson, Tanney, and he may include the other quarterbacks. Mariota recalled Hurts voicing frustration after a pass at the New York Jets was deflected for an interception as a rare moment of vulnerability.

But he typically plants himself sphinxlike on the bench. He’s more of a by-example leader than the rah-rah type. Former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb used to be chastised by some for smiling on the sideline. Hurts gets it from some corners for looking dour.

Graham and other leaders can bring the positivity. But the defensive end said Hurts’ energy, because his position is central, naturally rubs off on the rest of the team.

“You’ve got to not think about yourself and think about others,” Graham said. “Even for myself, you can sometimes go with the emotions of the game when stuff not going right. You go, ‘Ah,’ and go to the side. But it should be like, ‘Let me get up and encourage my guys on both sides of the ball’ because you never know who you can whip back into shape.

“It’s like, ‘Let me stop feeling bad for myself’ because … he just went out there and made a bad play and now he’s up encouraging us.”

Sirianni and Johnson have said that Hurts has been open to their hard coaching. There have been public glimpses of Sirianni chastising Hurts. He barked at him this past training camp. Hurts responded, but a few beats later he dropped and did push-ups as atonement.

But only a handful know how corrections are made in quarterback meetings. Johnson has said his long-standing relationship with the Hurts family — he’s known Jalen since he was 3 — doesn’t prevent him from calling out his mistakes.

Johnson was hired for his coaching acumen. His promotion to coordinator last offseason wasn’t by any stretch a reach. But it’s fair to posit if the dynamic between Hurts and Johnson has tilted the scales between coach and player.

» READ MORE: Opinion: Nick Sirianni has to fix the Eagles. For his sake, he has to make sure Jalen Hurts is the solution.

What’s most important is that there is constant dialogue. Kelce recently said, when asked to explain why past losing Eagles seasons resulted in jobs lost, that when vital lines of communication were discontinued it foretold the end.

He didn’t have to name former coach Doug Pederson and Wentz, who were not talking by the end of the 2020 season, to further his point. Sirianni said he is in constant communication with Hurts throughout the week.

Asked if they set aside one-on-one time — as Pederson and Wentz initially did before ending those powwows — Hurts said he meets with his head coach on Saturdays. Sirianni said those meetings were just typical reviews before the game.

Connectivity is a core function in Sirianni’s coaching philosophy. He strives to make a human bond with all his players, but when asked last week to name one area in which he connects with Hurts, he stuck to the obvious.

“We both love football, like, extremely love football,” Sirianni said. “And sometimes when two people love football that much, there’s not a lot of side conversations to be able to have because it always comes back to football.”

On the surface, they seem to get on fine, even if technically they don’t have to like each other to accomplish their goals together. Sirianni gave Hurts a little more freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage this season.

It has produced explosive plays, like against the Washington Commanders in Week 4, when he checked to Brown on a “go” route that led to a touchdown. But Sirianni and Johnson were trying to bleed the clock in that situation.

Last month, the Eagles trailed the Seattle Seahawks late and Hurts tossed a game-ending interception with seconds left. Sirianni’s meandering explanation for why his quarterback threw into double coverage started with trying to draw pass interference.

Hurts, two days later, said he “was just trying to get [Brown] a shot down the field,” and said that enticing a penalty was part of his thought process.

But Brown later revealed, in defending Sirianni, that Hurts had audibled on the play and said “we messed up.” When eventually asked if he had made the right decision or if there was more to it, the quarterback said, “There’s a lot that you don’t know. In fact, you don’t know what you don’t know.”

A follow-up asked if Sirianni had told him it was “the wrong decision at the wrong time,” as Brown said the coach told the players.

“There’s no right or wrong,” Hurts said. “It’s just all based upon the results usually and I think that’s the reality of it.”

In a general sense, Hurts has taken ownership for losses. After the loss at the Seahawks, he said, “Put it on me,” even though he had played through an illness. But his public statements — and Sirianni and Johnson’s extreme praise of Hurts — matter far less as long as he’s being held accountable behind closed doors.

Hurts was built tough. His father, Averion, trained him like a powerlifter and coached him hard. By the time he got to Alabama he was already forged. Nick Saban used to complain to his assistants that “nothing affects the guy,” but Hurts was devastated when he was benched in the national championship game as a sophomore.

Hurts, as one source close to him said, “Doesn’t trust many people.” He gets his stoic disposition, everyone familiar with the Hurts family has said, from his father. Saban taught him that external noise from media and fans was “rat poison.”

There is a spiritual, contemplative side that Hurts mostly keeps private. His grandmother he has said is his religious compass. With the Eagles, strength and conditioning coach Dustin Woods writes devotionals on his and Smith’s sandwich bags before lifts and games.

“He’s just making sure we stay close to God,” Smith said. “Whether it’s something with life or football, it’s something we can relate to.”

A recent devotional for Hurts from Woods said the following:

The enemy wants me to feel pride in what I do and what I earn. But help me realized all things are true because of Your generosity. I give You all the thanks and all the glory.

Hurts is in many ways an ideal face of the franchise. Nike signed him to its Jordan brand during the offseason. He has numerous advertisement deals. The Hurts Brand has become a profitable one.

He has many riding on his success. But there are some within the Eagles who don’t want to see the organization make the same mistakes it made with Wentz when it came to giving him too much sway.

Was the private flight to Seattle necessary because of his illness? Maybe. But, as one team source put it, “We’re making it increasingly difficult for other players to relate to someone who is already unrelatable.”

Hurts is still developing as a man and as an athlete. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said last March that he never met anyone “that mature at age 24,” which suggests that maybe the now-25-year-old may not be capable of change.

There is little that needs changing, though. Hurts may “set the temperature” for the Eagles, as he stated recently. But Graham, Kelce, and a few others have assisted in leading when they can’t read the quarterback. They won’t be around forever.

“We all have conversations and he knows that part,” Graham said. “But people need him. Shoot, just even for myself, we all need each other in moments where everybody’s got to get reminded, ‘Man, you right, let me get out of my head.’

“People that you respect — if they come to you and tell you something, then it’s like, ‘All right, let me get my act together’ or ‘Let me get right.’ Because it ain’t just about me, it’s about somebody else, too.”

Note: A quote from Britain Covey about Jalen Hurts in this article has been updated for clarity.