Signs point toward Jalen Hurts’ return ahead of the Eagles-Packers wild-card game

Officially, Jalen Hurts remains in the concussion protocol five days before the Eagles host the Green Bay Packers in a wild-card round game.

But the tea leaves seem to be trending in a positive direction for the Eagles more than two weeks after Hurts suffered a concussion early in the first quarter of the team’s Week 16 loss to the Washington Commanders. Hurts was present at the team’s walk-through on Saturday before they hosted the Giants. And late Tuesday afternoon, the Eagles waived quarterback Ian Book, likely a signal they are expecting to have Hurts back in the fold.

Before the roster move Tuesday, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was asked if he had talked to Hurts about the upcoming game earlier in the day.

“Yeah,” Moore said. “Certainly all of us have been in continuous conversations. We always are and so, excited about that.”

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The Eagles return to the practice field Wednesday when more will be known about the status of Hurts, who has not practiced in any capacity since suffering the concussion. The Eagles have been tight-lipped about the situation. Coach Nick Sirianni has repeatedly said that Hurts is “progressing through the protocol” but would not say Monday whether Hurts was in the facility that day nor provide insight on Hurts’ status when asked how he was game-planning this week as it relates to the status of his starting quarterback.

Moore said he was not worried about rust should Hurts play this weekend.

“I think our guys do an excellent process here as far as you kind of let the medical side take care of their business and we do our side of it as far as anything we can do to help anticipate this,” he said.

The Eagles are playing a familiar opponent Sunday after having opened the season vs. the Packers in Brazil. Moore said it was a “long time ago,” and “a lot of things have changed” with both teams.

Among the things that have changed is Hurts, who threw two interceptions in that game and one in each of the following two weeks. He has thrown just one since.

“I think he’s just continued to play really, really confident while protecting the football,” Moore said. “I think he’s done a really good job in that situation, and then a lot of the situational football stuff that comes up each and every week. The two-minute [drill], handling four-minute situations when you’re running the football, but we still have critical third-down passes in those situations, and I think he’s just done an excellent job of playing out all of those situations.”

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Two days after the regular season ended has yielded at least two head-coaching interview requests for Moore. The New Orleans Saints will, according to NFL Network, interview Moore to be their next coach, and shortly before Moore met with reporters Tuesday the Jacksonville Jaguars released a list of eight candidates that included Moore.

“You don’t worry about it too much,” the 36-year-old Moore said. “Really the focus is on the week and those things take care of theirself. Obviously those things only come to teams who usually tend to have success and are doing things well on the field. So that’s where your focus is.”

Asked what he would take from this season if he were to get a head-coaching job, Moore said: “It’s just been a great experience here. Working with Nick, I think what Nick does an excellent job of is leading this team from an emotional and leadership element, but also just the game management and how he manages the game throughout the week. Our situational football, as much time as we invest in that, he does an excellent job with it and so it’s been a really fun process for me.”

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Eagles kicker Jake Elliott added to a career high in missed field goals attempts Sunday with his eighth miss of the season. It was a 39-yard attempt from the left hash, and special teams coordinator Michael Clay said Tuesday that Elliott expected the wind to play more of a factor than it did.

Elliott is 28-for-36 on field goals this season. The 77.8% success rate is the second-lowest of his eight-season NFL career. He has only been under 83.9% twice. Elliott did make two field goals Sunday, one from just 24 yards out, and another from 32.

“I think Jake, being around him so much and talking to him, I think his confidence is still very, very high with what he’s doing,” Clay said. “He’s always going to be his harshest critic going forward, but nice for him to come back and hit those two. They’re shorter field goals, but it’s also nice to see the ball go through the net.”