Jalen Hurts practices for first time post-shoulder injury, still not ruled out for Sunday vs. Saints

Jordan Mailata needed to execute a double take on Thursday afternoon.

Upon Mailata’s arrival to the practice field, the Eagles left tackle noticed a familiar face rejoining the fold. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, who missed Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys with a sprained shoulder, returned to practice Thursday for the first time since suffering the injury during the team’s win over the Chicago Bears on Dec. 18.

“I was shocked,” Mailata said. “I didn’t know he was out there until he was out there. I was like ‘Oh, this is great!’ I had no idea.”

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Hurts participated in the early portion of practice open to the media that widely consisted of individual drills. The 24-year-old quarterback threw a handful of short and intermediate passes with regular zip. He went through a variety of mobility drills that required him to complete passes while on the run and also while throwing against his body.

“Absolutely, he looked good,” running back Miles Sanders said. “Handoffs and throws, it all looked good.”

After Hurts didn’t participate in the team’s walk-through on Wednesday, he was listed as a limited participant on the team’s injury report Thursday. Hurts was held out of some drills, including the team’s ball-security session. Additionally, Hurts did not take the first reps during the exchange period with the running backs. That first-team designation belonged to backup quarterback Gardner Minshew.

“I was happy to see Jalen back on the field,” Sanders said. “He’s still got to go as his body tells him to, but we hope he’ll be ready whenever he’s ready. The main thing is making sure he’s as healthy as possible [for the playoffs].”

Whether or not Hurts suits up for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints is to be determined. The Week 17 matchup holds high stakes for the Eagles (13-2), who can lock up the division title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed with a victory over the Saints.

“We’ll see how he progresses throughout the week,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “Does he have a chance? Of course, he does. His body just knows how to heal, he’s a freak. So we’ll see what happens and how he progresses.”

Similar to Sirianni’s tone, players remained tight-lipped on Hurts’ status. While he was the leader of the quarterbacks during the individual portion of practice, Hurts’ limited designation carries weight considering the full-team sessions were closed to the media. Over the next several days, the coaching staff and trainers must weigh the benefits of trotting Hurts out against the Saints and the possibility he could further aggravate his injured shoulder.

If the Eagles are able to secure the conference’s top seed, they would guarantee themselves home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Their first postseason game wouldn’t be until either Jan. 21 or 22. If Hurts doesn’t take another snap in a real game until then, he would have a full month to heal and rehab from his injury. The Eagles host the Giants in the regular-season finale; with a victory against the Saints, Sirianni would have the opportunity to rest a majority of his starters, including Hurts, during that Week 18 contest.

At the conclusion of practice, tight end Dallas Goedert approached Hurts at his locker and attempted to discover whether or not Hurts will play on Sunday.

“Man, I don’t know if anybody ever knows what Jalen is going to be doing,” Goedert said. “He’s going to do everything he can to play. It was cool seeing him out there throwing the ball a little bit. Obviously, everybody was glad to see him out there. He looks good. Just watching the ball come off his fingers, it looks good.

“I tried to get a little bit out of Jalen, but he didn’t really say much. He just sat in his statue-self, kind of looked at me, stuck his lips out, and nodded his head. I told him, ‘I don’t know what that means, J!’ So we’ll see. It’s still up in the air. Whoever it is, I like our odds.

Against the Cowboys, Minshew completed 24 of 40 passes for 355 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I thought Gardner played a great game last week,” Goedert said. “Shoot, his completion percentage and yards were good. We’ve got to limit some of the turnovers. I think we played a great game if we didn’t have those. It’s hard to win with turnovers. With another game under his belt, I think he’ll clean up even more.”

Minshew offers a contrast to Hurts, who was a frontrunner for league MVP prior to suffering his injury. Hurts has produced 35 total touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing), which is tied with Randall Cunningham (1990) for the most in franchise history. Hurts’ 13 rushing touchdowns are the most ever by any Eagles quarterback and second most in NFL history behind Cam Newton’s 14 rushing touchdowns in 2011.

Fellow team captain Brandon Graham exuded passion while discussing Hurts’ candidacy for the league’s top award.

“It’s always good to see him because we know he’s the reason why we’re here,” Graham said. “We see him balling, and we make sure we do everything we can to put him in a good position.

“I feel like he’s still the [NFL’s MVP]. People get technical like, ‘Oh, he didn’t play this, he didn’t play that. It’s just like the same thing with [safety] C.J. [Gardner-Johnson]. It sucks that he couldn’t be voted for the Pro Bowl [due to injury]. They’ve got to do something about it. Missing a couple games shouldn’t take away what you did to this point. But the rules are the rules, I don’t even want to go there.

“You see what I see. The leader that Jalen is, the player that he is. You can’t deny him this year. But we know the [MVP voters] will make up something to give it to their favorite guys. Hopefully, Jalen is on that card. I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s not over yet.”