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EspañolWhy Nick Sirianni thinks Jalen Hurts will fit in Eagles' new offense originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
INDIANAPOLIS — Another year, another new offensive coordinator for Jalen Hurts.
But this time, the changes won’t end there.
The Eagles this offseason hired 33-year-old Sean Mannion as their offensive coordinator heading into the 2026 season and Mannion is expected to implement a brand new scheme. Mannion comes from the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree, so it’s probably safe to make some assumptions about what this offense will look like.
We can probably expect to see some of the hallmarks from those systems: More play-action, under-center usage, pre-snap motions and a real effort to tie the run and the pass together.
Speaking ahead of his annual trip to the NFL Combine, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he’s confident that Hurts will fit in this scheme.
“He’s shown that he can do all these things,” Sirianni said. “I think what’s awesome about Jalen is he’s shown he can do a lot of things really well. And that’s a sign of a good football player. You may have a scheme, you always want to fit it to the players. But the great thing about great players is they can usually fit to any scheme. If we’re saying that we’re going to run a little bit more play action, a little more outside zone, a little more boot action off of that, again, those are some things that maybe we’re saying, right?
“I’m sure you guys can read. But he’s super athletic being able to get that stretch read. He’s going to have a lot of pull. When we’re in the gun, he’s got a lot of pull on the defense that he could run the ball the other way. Well, it’s the same thing if it’s a boot. He’s going to have a lot of pull on that. He’s been really productive in the play-action pass game. We haven’t run as many boots and nakeds here in the past, but I know he’s good at those when he does those.
“And so, again, because Jalen’s the type of player that he is, I’m comfortable that you could tell me whatever system we’re going to put in, could he be able to do it? Yeah, because that’s a sign of a good football player. But particularly these things that he has done well, maybe in a smaller sample size but he has done well in those in the past.”
There’s some projection in all this. Because Hurts has found some success with some of the staples of a Shanahan/McVay offense but in smaller sample sizes.
Let’s look at two key areas — play-action game and under-center:
• During the 2025 regular season, Hurts attempted just 107 play-action passes, which ranked 19th in the NFL, per NextGen Stats. But he wasn’t bad at it.
Take a look at his numbers in the 2025 season (including the playoffs):
Play action: 72/115 (62.6%), 811 yards, 7 TDs, 3 INTs, 93.1 rating
No play action: 242/374 (64.7%), 2,581 yards, 19 TDs, 3 INTs, 98.4 rating
If the Eagles are able to get their run game back on track in 2025 and tie it better to their play-action game, it’s possible they’ll improve in this area even more under Mannion.
• The Eagles ran just 221 plays under center last season, according to NextGen Stats. That ranked 27th in the league. On top of that, just 21.7% of those plays ended up being passes, which was the third-lowest percentage in the NFL.
But they were good given that limited sample size. The Eagles had an EPA/pass of +0.28 when they were under center in 2025. That was good for third in the NFL. Of course, it’s fair to wonder what happens when the usage increases.
Aside from all the schematic changes the Eagles are going to undergo this offseason, their new OC has a background with the quarterback position. Mannion was a backup quarterback in the NFL for nearly a decade and then coached the position in Green Bay.
Earlier this offseason, when Mannion was the OC at Shrine Bowl, he seemed to unsurprisingly gravitate toward the position. While the Eagles will have former passing game coordinator Parks Frazier lead the room as QBs coach, Mannion is expected to coach Hurts and the other QBs closely.
“How he looks at it and how he looks at the lens is through a quarterback’s lens,” Sirianni said, “and how he can help him play his best football and keep things for him, how you get him to play the best football. And I think that’s kind of how he looks at it. I know that’s how he looks at it. So excited about that.”