Another Eagles Reset? Losing Streak, Hurts’s Contract Loom Large

The Eagles’ season could be unraveling, with quarterback Jalen Hurts sidelined because of a blood clot in his leg, offensive-line mainstay Lane Johnson in retirement, coach Nick Sirianni facing scrutiny, and a losing record entering Sunday.

For now, it is enough to be concerned about Hurts’s health beyond any football implications, and to see if Sirianni can figure out how to get things fixed on the field.

But at some point, if Sirianni fails in that regard, there will be room to wonder whether another Eagles reset might be coming and, if so, when. Perhaps this offseason would be too soon for that to be considered. Owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman have never been afraid to make bold, transformative moves when they thought such actions were warranted, and they’ve been highly successful operating that way.

Over a span of eight seasons between 2017 and 2024, the Eagles reached three Super Bowls and won two of them. They haven’t been a full-fledged NFL dynasty like the Patriots of Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady, or the Chiefs that followed with Clark Hunt, Andy Reid, and Patrick Mahomes. But they certainly have had their glorious moments.

Lurie and Roseman have done things their own way. The Eagles embraced analytics. They have used skillful drafting and have had an aggressive approach to pursuing trades. Above all, they have not been timid when they have become convinced it was time to reboot.

They won a Super Bowl title in the 2017 season, beating the Patriots, with Doug Pederson as their coach and with Nick Foles filling in for their injured would-be franchise quarterback, Carson Wentz. But even after signing Wentz to a four-year, $128 million contract extension in the summer of 2019, the Eagles used a second-round draft pick on Hurts in 2020.

After 9-7 seasons in 2018 and 2019, the Eagles went 4-11-1 in 2020. Pederson gave Hurts an audition as the starter late in the season, leading to Wentz being traded to the Colts in the offseason that followed. And Lurie dismissed Pederson, saying at the time that Pederson didn’t deserve to be fired, but the two differed in their views of the path forward.

“I thought the values and the culture were all there,” Lurie said in Phoenix in February 2023 during Super Bowl week, according to The Washington Post. “We just had to sort of regenerate the way we did before the last Super Bowl and needed new energy. Focus on the things that create an exceptional team. But don’t waver. Don’t listen to noise. And try to hire the best possible coach and coaching staff. Just things that we think are what’s correlated with big success in the league.”

The Eagles hired Sirianni, then a relatively anonymous offensive coordinator for the Colts. They went with Hurts as the quarterback. And, after an opening-round playoff loss in the 2021 season, they reached two Super Bowls in a span of three seasons, losing the first to the Chiefs but winning the rematch in February 2025. Hurts was the MVP of that game.

“We stuck to our priorities,” Lurie said in 2023. “We’ve always been a believer in building through the draft. And you have to be extremely aggressive in every other way we can find talent and sometimes think outside the box. I give Howie and his staff just a lot of credit for thinking outside the box, being aggressive, which is our mentality of our organization, and at the same time making strategic decisions that really paid off.”

Fast-forward to now. The Eagles are 2-3 and on a three-game losing streak entering Sunday’s game against the Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field. Johnson, a two-time Super Bowl winner and six-time Pro Bowl selection, announced his retirement Oct. 6, writing in a statement posted to social media: “Right now, it is critical that I focus on my mental health.”

The Eagles traded center Cam Jurgens to the Ravens the following day. Last Sunday in London, they took a one-point lead over the Jaguars on a field goal with eight seconds remaining, only to allow a 53-yard kickoff return and a 57-yard field goal to lose. Sirianni accepted the blame for his late-game tactics, saying during his postgame news conference: “I didn’t make the right decision, and I lost us that game. And that’s what I said to our guys.”

On Thursday, the Eagles announced that an ultrasound performed in London the day before the Jaguars game revealed that Hurts had a superficial blood clot. The team’s medical staff and doctors in London concluded that Hurts could safely play last Sunday, the Eagles said. A follow-up ultrasound Wednesday night “revealed movement in the small blood clot,” the Eagles said, ruling out Hurts from playing Sunday and adding: “His health and safety are our highest priority.”

The team placed Hurts on the injured reserve list Saturday, meaning that he must miss at least four games. It’s not clear how long he will be sidelined. Tanner McKee takes over as the fill-in starter. The longer-term implications on Hurts’s NFL career, if any, are unclear.

He signed a five-year, $255 million contract extension in 2023. According to Spotrac, $22 million of Hurts’s 2027 income became fully guaranteed on the third day of this league year, and another $696,000 would become fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2027 league year in March. Some analysts have characterized Hurts’s deal, which runs through the 2028 season, as a year-to-year proposition for the Eagles from here.