Eagles GM addresses how Kenny Pickett impacts Jalen Hurts

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spoke with reporters at the NFL owners meetings on Monday and insisted that Jalen Hurts "is our franchise quarterback" after Roseman acquired signal-caller Kenny Pickett from the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

"I don’t think that there is anything that affects Jalen in terms of who we bring in at the quarterback position," Roseman explained, as shared by Chris Franklin of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "We have tremendous faith and trust in him, and we communicate with him about anything we’re doing, just as we like to do with a bunch of our players to give a heads-up so he can welcome them to the team." 

Pickett, a 2022 first-round draft pick, reportedly wanted out of Pittsburgh after the Steelers acquired Russell Wilson.

Hurts is cemented atop Philadelphia's depth chart this spring, but questions about his leadership style hover over him after the 2023 Eagles started the season at 10-1 but then fell to 11-6 before their wild-card playoff loss. It's been suggested that the Eagles could escape the five-year, $255M contract extension Hurts signed sooner rather than later depending on what occurs over the next 11 months or so. 

"Kenny’s a talented guy that, obviously, like all quarterbacks, including the ones in this draft, we do work on because you never know when you have the opportunity to get those guys and to continue to build depth throughout our roster with talented guys at maybe the most important position in sports," Roseman added. "We felt like it made sense." 

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni may be on the hot seat after his club lost six of seven games from Week 13 of this past regular season through the 32-9 playoff disaster at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There's no quarterback controversy of any kind in Philadelphia today, but history shows situations can and often do change quickly in the NFL.