Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts enters the 2026 NFL season facing more question marks than ever before, believes Sky Sports NFL’s Neil Reynolds.
The Eagles leaned heavily on Vic Fangio’s star-studded defense alongside a sputtering Hurts-led attack on the way to winning the NFC East title last season.
It would culminate in a playoff defeat to the San Francisco 49ers and the firing of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, while a disgruntled AJ Brown departed in the offseason after an apparent breakdown in his connection with Hurts both on and off the field.
“Only Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have accounted for more offensive touchdowns than Jalen Hurts in the last five years,” said Reynolds on Inside the Huddle.
“He’s a Super Bowl MVP, but those whispers about how he can impact the offense, how he gets along with his team-mates, all of that’s grown about as loud as it’s ever been during this offseason, about how he can run an offense, what he can do, what his limitations are.”
Hurts was named Super Bowl MVP after a commanding performance to lead the Eagles to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs two years ago, denying Andy Reid’s side a historic three-peat.
Still, doubts of his talents would follow amid a laboured 2025 campaign.
“It’s hard, I think he can be a polarizing character at times because he’s actually just so stoic throughout or almost maintains the same emotions. And people want to see him get happy or mad or anything like that,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter.
“I feel like there’s so much of other people applying how they feel he should think or feel. Then you have people looking at his career in terms of criticising the run game, criticising his passing game, criticising who he throws the football to, and Philadelphia is not an easy place to play.
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On the Inside The Huddle podcast Neil Reynolds, Jeff Reinebold and Phoebe Schecter give their predictions on who will make the Super Bowl in 2027
“We know that there’s a lot of external pressure from the Eagles fans, whether you’re winning or losing, but it feels like a team that has consistently been driven by what the outside noise wants, or maybe the coordinators are allowing that to happen where they think, ‘oh, they think we need to pass it to this person, they think we should throw it’.
“It almost just needs all those doors shut, which is probably why Jalen Hurts is very much like that. Even spending time with him this offseason he pretty much is exactly the same. He doesn’t really get too excited.
“It will be fascinating now, is it that addition by subtraction when it comes to AJ Brown, what does the offense look like?”
Hurts and the Eagles begin their season against another quarterback facing queries in the light of a disappointing campaign marred by injury.
Jayden Daniels missed 10 games for the Washington Commanders last season, failing to build on his Offensive Rookie of the Year-winning campaign.
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Speaking on the Inside the Huddle podcast, Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Schecter examine whether the Broncos are ready to mount a genuine Super Bowl challenge
“He told me in the summer he was going to learn to live to fight another down,” said Reynolds. “I will believe it when I see it, once you get in the heat of the battle.
“There’s a lot of questions about Jayden Daniels, because if he’s healthy, let’s not forget two seasons ago, they were in the NFC championship game against these very Eagles.”
Schecter added: “Jayden Daniels is so fascinating because he does have such a slim fit frame and we’ve seen how that can have a negative impact, but we’ve also seen how his speed and athleticism has really helped the team at times is evasive moves in the pocket, or even just when he’s scrambling or running down field.
“And then you’ve got on top of it, the amount of off-field work that he does from a preparation perspective. The extra meetings that he’s doing in the morning to walk through the play script or the virtual reality that he’s watching, not every quarterback does that.
“Its just making sure that his offensive line can protect him long enough against an Eagles defense and especially an Eagles defensive line that are just known for their aggression.”
Watch the 2026 NFL season live on Sky Sports, including every minute of the playoffs and Super Bowl LXI on Sunday February 14, 2027. Get Sky Sports or stream contract-free with NOW.
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