Jalen Hurts’ scramble rate is at a career low, but the Eagles prioritize keeping the franchise QB upright

The Eagles want Jalen Hurts, first and foremost, to protect himself.

Through four games, the quarterback seems to have a heightened aversion to contact when navigating the open field and hasn’t been quite as dynamic as a runner as a result.

His scramble rate has gone down to a career low this season and his yards per carry are down as well, but Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the number they care about most for Hurts is hits avoided.

“He needs to protect himself,” Sirianni said Monday. “He took the big hit against New England, and it’s always been our intention to make sure he’s protecting himself as a runner. We encourage him to slide and we encourage him to get down and we encourage him not to take a big hit — step out of bounds when you can.”

The hit Sirianni referenced took place in the fourth quarter of the season opener when Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers got a clean shot on Hurts as he worked upfield on a quarterback draw and lowered his shoulder. It was one of the few examples of Hurts inviting contact this season and it ended with him fumbling the ball in a crucial part of the game.

The conversation about Hurts’ running and the risk it poses started this offseason after the 25-year-old signed a $255 million contract extension that secured his long-term future with the team. It’s important to note that Hurts missed time in each of his two seasons as a full-time starter, injuring his ankle toward the end of the 2021 season and dealing with a shoulder injury last year.

Still, Sirianni and Hurts each suggested at the start of training camp that his ability to avoid contact while making plays as a runner would be reason enough to keep giving him chances to impact the game on the ground.

“We’ll continue to go about our business the same way we went about our business,” Sirianni said in July. “We’ll always think about protecting him first, but we didn’t pay him more to do less.”

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Hurts, who often refers to himself as a “triple threat” who can beat teams with his arm, legs, and mind, also said he didn’t want to diminish that part of his game.

“I know that I am embracing the uniqueness of my game and just being a triple threat out there,” he said in July. “Being someone knowledgeable and understanding what’s going on out on the field, being able to make those throws, and being able to cause problems on the ground as well, those are the three areas of being a quarterback that I’m embracing and I want to continue to excel at.”

That hasn’t quite been the case this season, though. Hurts is scrambling slightly less through four games than he did last year, going from a 9.6% scramble rate to 8.5%. His yards per scramble also indicate that he’s less effective on those runs, either because of defenders being quicker to contain him or because he’s giving himself up earlier. He averaged 7.8 yards on scrambles last year compared to just 5.6 this season. As a passer, Hurts’ numbers are a mixed bag. He’s completing 67.7% of his passes, about a point higher than last year, but his yards per attempt and success rate are significantly lower.

During the Eagles’ 34-31 overtime win against the Washington Commanders, Hurts seemingly slowed down to give himself up for a short gain rather than pushing to get an edge against cornerback Benjamin St-Juste.

Later in the game, Hurts had his most effective scramble of the season so far, a 24-yard scamper after evading Washington defensive end James Smith-Williams coming free off the edge to start a crucial fourth-quarter drive. It could be that Hurts will continue picking his spots to open things up the way he did against Washington.

It could also come down to opportunity. Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said last week that he has called zone-reads in the red zone but defenses have played them in a way that has led to Hurts handing the ball off to the running back most of the time.

On Tuesday, Johnson, a former dual-threat quarterback who starred at the University of Utah, said he is cognizant of prioritizing Hurts’ safety when calling plays.

“I think it’s always a fine line and a balancing act,” Johnson said. “Obviously you want to keep the quarterback out of harm’s way. It’s a really, really long season. So we have to do a really great job of keeping him upright. But he has to continue to use his instincts and use everything that he has at his disposal to be the best player that he can be, and his legs are definitely a part of that equation.”