Banner: Worth The Wait For Hurts

One of the many difficult tasks that Howie Roseman, Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Philadelphia Eagles, faces in the 2023 offseason is how to take care of QB Jalen Hurts.

In 2022, his second full season as a starter, Hurts proved himself to be a long-term franchise quarterback.

His 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns passing were complimented by 760 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. He finished second in MVP voting and came up just short of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy following a heroic performance in Super Bowl LVII.

Hurts is among a strong 2020 quarterback draft class, including Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, that is due for a contract extension this summer.

Appearing on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Joe Banner, former team president for the Eagles, recommended that Hurts waits until his peers sign their extensions in order to get the most money possible.

“I think this is the most interesting contract… If I’m Hurts, I’m sitting back and let those other guys get their deals done. I’m hoping they did three- or four-year deals, and I’m hoping they pushed the $50 million dollar [annual] mark into the $50-55 million range.”

Banner believes a short-term deal would allow for Hurts and other quarterbacks to cash in on an expected explosion of the NFL salary cap within five years.

From Philadelphia’s perspective, while the team will certainly look to reward Hurts for his MVP-level performance, Banner says they can do so by offering security in length, which helps them maximize cap space in the future.

“The longer the deal, the better it is for the team. If he does a three-year deal, they own his rights for four more years. The cap will have gone up $100 million dollars more then. That’s almost 50%. A guy making 50 million now is going to be a 75-80 million per year player in five years. Every extra year they get is going to save them a massive amount of money,” Banner said.

This offseason, the Eagles will need to set aside money for Hurts while preparing for a potential mass exodus of key players in free agency.

Despite the potential losses, Banner remains bullish on the Birds’ future.

He cited that Roseman’s team-building philosophy will remain the same, one that has been a proven winning formula for Philadelphia.

“He’s going to try to lock down the quarterback and solidify both of his lines,” Banner said. “They’re in pretty good shape if you do those two things…They’re going to lose a lot of players, but they are much closer to staying at the top than people realize.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com