The flavor of the week in Philly has been benching the struggling Carson Wentz in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts. Many prominent people have chimed in on it too. DK Metcalf, the Eagles opponent on Monday, chimed on Instagram. Deion Sanders, the keynote speaker of Folesian Society claimed it should be Hurts. Even John Powers Middleton had the audacity to weigh in and say it should be Hurts, as if the Phillies don’t have their own laundry list of issues.
https://twitter.com/fballanalysis/status/1331636292262752256?s=21
But I have to say, I agree with these gentleman. Jalen Hurts should start on Monday Night Football against the Seahawks.
“What could go wrong?!” you may ask. And the answer is, everything. But that’s kind of the point.
As people try to run Carson Wentz out of town I wonder how much Carson wishes he was in Indy or Carolina. Away from a GM who can’t draft, a coach who can’t call plays, a line who can’t block, and receivers who can’t catch or run.
When Hurts steps in for Wentz, none of those issues will change. In fact, they may get worse. A guy who wasn’t good enough to start on his college team or good enough to throw in his packages now in the pros, is not the answer.
But the sooner Hurts steps in and produces the same result as Wentz, the sooner we can focus on the real issues with this team. They have drafted poorly for years. They failed miserably drafting wide receiver talent. They’ve got a deteriorated offensive line that gets their quarterback killed en route to possibly the most sacks ever allowed in a single NFL season. The coaching staff doesn’t help develop talent. They get less creative with offensive strategy as seasons go by without Frank Reich. You’re mad at the quarterback, but a National showcase of another quarterback floundering in this lackluster offense will highlight the real problems that reach much higher.
Benching Wentz for Hurts right now would be like the Bubble Sixers benching Joel Embiid for Norvel Pelle.
Joel has his deficiencies as a basketball players. He, just like Carson, can have turnover issues. He has trouble with double teams. He takes too many perimeter shots when he should be getting post touches. But all of his bad tendencies are amplified by the poor roster constructed around him and the systemic failure of the team as a whole. The same logic applies to Carson right now.
So go ahead, start Jalen Hurts on Monday. The quicker that experiment fails, the quicker we can focus on the larger issues plaguing this Eagles team.