Sirianni: Hurts is 'going to get better' in 2024

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni believes quarterback Jalen Hurts will be a better player and an improved leader in 2024.

"Here's what I know about Jalen: Whatever we see that he needs to work on or he sees that he needs to work on, he's going to get better at that because he puts everything he has into it," Sirianni said Tuesday at the NFL combine, according to Tim McManus of ESPN.

The Eagles lost six of their final seven games in 2023, including a 32-9 defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round. Hurts was far from the player he had been earlier in the year during the seven-game slide, totaling only 1,611 yards with nine touchdowns and six turnovers.

But Sirianni believes other factors contributed to the Eagles' collapse.

"It's not just Jalen, it's not just me; we had a fall-off as a team those last six weeks that we all need to get better from," Sirianni said, per McManus. "But Jalen's played some really outstanding football."

Following the season, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported that the Eagles would like Hurts to be a more "vocal leader" next year, as veterans Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox will potentially be departing.

"There is not a book written on this is how you lead. People lead in different ways," Sirianni said at the combine. "One thing I learned early in leadership is you have to be yourself because if you're trying to be somebody you're not when you lead, that gets seen through."

Philadelphia selected Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He was the franchise's starting quarterback the last three years, racking up a 33-14 record during that stretch with 12,852 total yards and 99 touchdowns.