In you missed it on the Friday before Christmas, Jeff McLane reported that the Eagles have “some internal concern” about Jalen Hurts’ leadership style: 

“The team has been patient with Hurts, even though it awarded him with a $255 million contract in the offseason. He may just be experiencing a few bumps, but there is some internal concern about the stoic 25-year-old.

The Eagles want their franchise quarterback to be authentic, but some team leaders also want him to open himself up a little more in the locker room and have a more outward leadership style when it’s needed during difficult stretches, several team sources close to the situation said.”

The strange part about this story is that most of the details are exclusive to McLane’s unCovering the Birds podcast. There’s a brief writeup on the Inquirer website, but it pushes readers to a 35-minute podcast for the rest of the reporting.

The episode produced four more entrees that I thought carried significant weight. Here are the major takeaways from it:

Internal concerns about Jalen Hurts’ leadership style

I hate this type of broad brush reporting. On one hand, you have a respected beat like Jeff McLane who has earned your trust on things he reports out of NovaCare. On the other hand, it seems like the guy only turns up to report on anything substantial when things are going to shit. Coincidence? Who knows. I just know when the Birds were 14-1 with Hurts under center last year I don’t remember reading many McLane stories. Was there concern about the QB’s leadership when they dedicated $255 million this summer?

Obviously we don’t know who these team sources are. We don’t know the context. We don’t know if they’re full of shit. They could be players, coaches, or team personnel. But it’s eerily similar to the Carson Wentz situation, that once the team hits a rough patch, here come questions again about the leadership style of the QB. Again, McLane has proven he’s good at what he does, but there’s a reason that the aggregation tweets are being met with skepticism:

 

Matt Patricia was a contingency plan

Citing team sources, McLane says that Matt Patricia was a contingency plan in case Sean Desai didn’t work out because of his inexperience as a defensive coordinator. He also mentioned Howie Roseman was the one who got Patricia on Nick Sirianni’s radar. Never a sign of confidence when you have to bring in the Plan B before the season even starts. McLane did report last week saying theplayers liked Desai, but he didn’t carry himself with confidence and they could start to sense that.

 

Jalen Hurts has been given more opportunities at the line of scrimmage

McLane says this season Jalen Hurts has been given more opportunity at the line to call plays, and a team source believes this has had an adverse effect on the offense. This is an interesting wrinkle to the situation. Jalen Hurts has regressed. You can’t deny that.  Now is it because of the play calling, is it Nick Sirianni’s scheme, or is it Jalen changing the plays at the line? This is the first report Eagles fans have heard of the latter.

 

Losing Dennard Wilson is a part of the cornerback problem

Hard to argue with this one. McLane says former Eagles DB coach Dennard Wilson was a major part of the room. Not only was he a fantastic X’s and O’s guy, but a guy that could get DBs to check their egos at the door. Eagles players openly campaigned for him to get the job, if you remember. Now with the Ravens there’s a chance Wilson becomes the DC next year if Mike Macdonald gets poached for a head coaching job.

 

Nick Sirianni still has the locker room

Lets end it on a good note. Nick Sirianni has not lost the locker room, according to team sources. For now. Is he coaching for his job if the Birds slip up these last three games? Who knows? I’m always under the impression that Howie Roseman knows he’s so good at correcting his mistakes and building rosters that he’s cocky enough to think it doesn’t matter who’s coaching, he’ll put them in a position to win. The read on Sirianni when he was hired was he wouldn’t challenge Howie and would do everything Jeffrey Lurie asked. It’ll be interesting what happens if the slide continues over the next three weeks.