Eagles Rumors: Jalen Hurts, PHI Hold 'Initial Conversations' for Contract Extension

Jalen Hurts put together a career year in 2022, and he should be the Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback for years to come.

In fact, the Eagles have already held "initial conversations" with the Oklahoma product on a contract extension, ESPN's Dan Graziano reported Monday on SportsCenter:

"He was a second-round pick, so they do not hold a fifth-year option on him for 2024, so there's a little more urgency with his negotiations than there is with some of these other guys. I'm told there have been initial conversations, and I would expect the Eagles and Jalen Hurts to find a path to a contract extension at some point this offseason."

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has been vocal about wanting to lock up Hurts to an extension for a long time now. In February, he told reporters the team had a "good sense" of what it needs to do to retain him beyond the 2023 campaign.

"Obviously, we want to keep our best players here from the long term and he's certainly one of our best players," Roseman said. "We'll keep all the contract talks internal, but we have a good sense of what we need to do here."

He added: "We have a little bit of time here too to try to figure it out and get away and discuss that, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is keeping our best players here and Jalen is certainly one of our best players."

The Eagles selected Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft. His first two seasons in the NFL left the franchise with questions about whether he could be its franchise quarterback, but the 2022 campaign eliminated any doubt.

A lot of that had to do with the additions Philadelphia made on offense to help Hurts improve with his arm, including the acquisition of star wide receiver A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans.

Brown even made it clear during an appearance on the the Raw Room podcast (h/t NFL.com's Grant Gordon) in February that the Eagles need to extend Hurts, putting pressure on Roseman to get a deal done:

"You gotta pay, bro," Brown said. "I love Philly. What I'm about to say … You do not pay this man, just ship me off wherever he's going to go. So, you talk about pressure, Howie, get it done."

In 15 games last season, Hurts completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns against six interceptions. He also rushed for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns.

The Eagles finished the season with a 14-3 record and went on to win the NFC East for the first time since the 2019 campaign. They then bulldozed through the playoffs, defeating the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers en route to a Super Bowl berth, where they fell to the Kansas City Chiefs.

If the Eagles and Hurts can come to terms on an extension, there should be plenty more Super Bowl appearances for the franchise in the future.