PHOENIX — Speaking at the NFL annual league meeting Monday, general manager Howie Roseman said the Philadelphia Eagles hope to sign Jalen Hurts to a contract extension “relatively soon.”
The topic was first broached when Roseman was asked why there wasn’t a bigger push made to bring back safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who ended up inking a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the Detroit Lions in free agency.
“When you go back to the start of free agency, we talked to his representatives about bringing him back here and also talked to them about the fact that we have limited resources. It’s no secret that at some time relatively soon we want to extend our quarterback, so our whole roster building is going to kind of turn a little bit here from a quarterback on a rookie deal towards a quarterback hopefully on a long-term deal — not that we have anything done, but obviously our goal is to keep Jalen here for a long time,” Roseman said. “And so at some point you run out of resources. And so we were very clear that at some point we were going to have to go in a different direction. Those first couple days we tried (to agree to terms with Gardner-Johnson) and then we pivoted.”
Hurts, whom Roseman described as a “franchise quarterback” during his session with reporters at the Arizona Biltmore resort, is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is scheduled to make just over $4 million in 2023.
His salary will soon skyrocket. Recent contracts to higher-end quarterbacks — a group that includes Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson — all average north of $45 million per year. The market could get reset further this offseason with Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson all eligible for new deals, though Roseman said they aren’t letting those factors dictate their timing when it comes to getting something done with Hurts.
Roseman declined to get into the specifics of the negotiations but said he believes Hurts wants to remain an Eagle, and called it a “priority” to extend him, while indicating an intention to keep Hurts in Philadelphia even if an agreement can’t be struck before his contract expires.
“I think you have to navigate the offseason understanding we’re not going to lose our franchise quarterback with one year left on his deal,” he said. “So whatever that means, it’s going to mean 2024 is going to look different, we’re not going to have a quarterback under a rookie deal. Not that we’re talking about tags or anything like that, that’s not our goal there, but we’re going into it with our eyes open and understanding that we’ve got to kind of flip it (to have some younger, less expensive players on the roster).”
Hurts, 24, was an MVP candidate in 2022. He threw for over 3,700 yards with 22 touchdowns to six interceptions and rushed for 760 yards and 13 scores while posting a 14-1 record as the starter. He saved some of his best play for the biggest stage, accounting for 374 yards and four touchdowns with one turnover in a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
