Adjustment To New Offensive Coordinator Shouldn't Take Long For Eagles

Jalen Hurts gave a startling assessment of Kellen Moore’s offense last spring, when the Eagles quarterback said that 95 percent of it was new to him. It showed during the handful of OTAs and minicamp practices reporters were allowed to watch, as the Eagles' QB struggled.

When Hurts returned for training camp about six weeks later, the ball rarely touched the ground, and it wasn’t until the final day of camp that he threw his first interception. Hurts understood what Moore’s concepts and schemes were designed to do. That led to an 18-win season and a Lombardi Trophy.

The change in the offense’s structure shouldn’t be as dramatically torn down and built up again this season with the elevation of Kevin Patullo from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator.

“There are some nuances that are different,” said Hurts last week. “I know in the past, I gave a number on that matter, but things evolve and things change as time goes on. We’re just really delving into it. It’s really important. It’s something that I’ve learned, that you have to learn to evolve as time goes on.”

The education with Patullo in charge of the offense has already begun but will take another step this week when the Eagles open OTAs.

“Coach Kevin Patullo in his new role, and him being the one in charge of the offensive leadership, you get new pieces and new ideas that come from everyone,” said Hurts. “…It’s so early in this process. It’s still early in building this thing that we want it to be ultimately (and) it’ll be a collaborative effort. It’ll take everybody being on the same page again to see what this iteration of this team will be.”

Hurts said it will take some time to figure out what the iteration of this year’s team will be, and he’s right about that. The Eagles were still evolving last year when they decided to make Saquon Barkley the focal point of the offense coming out of their early bye week.

The advantage of Patullo coming from the inside is that he has seen the transition of several offenses through his four years with Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia, The two spent four years together prior to that.

“He’s awesome,” said left tackle Jordan Mailata about Patullo. “Great communicator. Very detailed, very open, very approachable, so it makes it easy for us to come to him with ideas.”

Added receiver A.J. Brown, “Pretty much the same honestly. Me and him always had a great relationship anyway. And he's been doing a great job stepping in with the team. He's just leading the meetings more, but he's been doing a great job. I should say, again, our relationship is great.”

Hurts has had a new coordinator so often throughout his college and NFL career that having one like Patullo with familiarity with the personnel shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment.

“I think he's a guy that just is going to … start right from the beginning again, working out like crazy again, getting ready again in the classroom, getting ready on the field,” said Sirianni about Hurts. “I don't notice any difference, whether it was [former Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] being the coordinator, Brian [Johnson], Shane [Steichen] or [current Offensive Coordinator] Kevin [Patullo]. I see the same process that he goes through, which is what makes Jalen special, is that he goes through the same process over and over and over again.

“The minute details. Just the same, over and over and over again, you just see him go through it and try to get better from new experiences, new voices.”