“Room For Error Much Greater”

The Eagles are in offseason mode as it’s been nearly two weeks since their first-round playoff exit against Tampa Bay.

With the 2021 season in the rear-view mirror, former Eagles safety Quintin Mikell and former Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant discussed on the “Q&A” show on Inside The Birds if Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts can lead the team deeper into the playoffs moving forward and why his stats shouldn’t be compared to some of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks.

“I saw on social media somewhere that someone was comparing Hurts’ second year stats to Josh Allen’s second year stats and how similar they were,” Mikell said. “I want people to understand that stats can be deceiving, so just because the numbers look very similar, it could mean completely different things.

“People that are expecting this meteoric rise from Jalen Hurts — ‘Oh, he’s gonna be the next Josh Allen’ — do not expect that. It’s gonna be a long process.”

Avant agreed, noting the differences between Hurts and some of the league’s elite quarterbacks.

“With Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. The room for error is [high],” Avant added, “because if they’re late, Josh Allen’s late, it doesn’t really matter. ‘I’ve got a bazooka. I can still make it up. He’s on the other side of the field? I can throw it across my body and I’m one of the three in the NFL that can make the throw.’ The room for error is so much greater.”

Avant and Mikell also said Hurts must continue his steady improvement if he wants to be in those conversations with the league’s best.

“There is no comparison to those quarterbacks,” Avant said. “And yes, there has to be some progress made, a lot of progress to be made by Jalen Hurts to be considered top whatever. Just think about this with these guys, there’s a lot of people vying [to be in the] top 10, top 12, top 14. There’s a lot of good quarterbacks in this [league], right? We’re talking about Mahomes and Allen, [Joe] Burrow, [Justin] Herbert, Lamar Jackson, [Matthew] Stafford and [Tom] Brady.”

Avant and Mikell also mentioned Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Derek Carr and Kirk Cousins.

“When you start getting into this, it’s hard to crack that,” Avant added. “Just think about that. I just named you like 13 quarterbacks. Only 14 teams make it to the playoffs.”

Also discussed: the outlook at wide receiver for 2002, and what the team must do in order to groom more successful wideouts.

“The receivers need more technical time,” Avant said. “There’s not enough time in practice to get it all done. Not just with cones, not just with drills running toward the sideline, [but also] making sure they’re catching it. Against other DBs, they need as much one on one time and problem solving time as they can.”

– Justin Morganstein (@jmotweets_) is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.

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