Jalen Hurts sat out with a shoulder injury in the Eagles’ loss to the Cowboys in Week 16 and is questionable for Week 16. But it’s easily the right decision.
The Philadelphia Eagles have already booked a playoff spot and have the inside track for a top seed in the NFC, giving the team a bye into the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs. But the big question as they try to lock up those spots is the health of quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Hurts was diagnosed with a shoulder injury to his arm in the aftermath of the team’s Week 15 win over the Bears. Although he pressed to play without missing a single time, the Eagles sat him down and started veteran Gardner Minshew in the team’s final loss to the Cowboys in Week 16. The question then became when Hurts would be able to make a comeback.
As of now, that won’t be the case for the team’s Week 17 contest against the New Orleans Saints.
Jalen Hurts Injury Update: Eagles list QB as questionable vs. Saints
On Friday, Philadelphia listed their team as questionable for the Saints game.
The belief is that the Eagles want to give Hurts at least one more week to rest and heal the injury before returning him to the field. This is really an easy decision.
Philadelphia is firmly in the driver’s seat to take the NFC East and the top seed. At 13-2 on the season, a win in either of the final two games of the season would clinch both spots for the Eagles. This means that the Saints game, even though they like to shut everything down as quickly as possible, can be pointless as long as the team wins in Week 18 against the rival Giants.
Being healthy in the qualifiers is, by far, the most important factor in this. Even though Minshew played well against Dallas and has been in his career, he doesn’t raise the bar the way Hurts does. And that’s a ceiling they need to hit to go into a post-season race.
And let’s not rule out the possibility that the Eagles could start Mincio in Week 17 and play well enough to beat the Andy Dalton-led Saints. That would allow Philadelphia to rest the Hurts for three weeks so they can get fit before making their debut in the divisional playoffs.
Honestly, not sitting at week 17 would be completely unwise and has a lot more downside than the path they seem to be taking. There are only positive results from letting the midfielder recover while the risk of aggravating the injury and reducing the team cap plays a big role if he is to return to action.
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