Kenny Pickett praise at Eagles OTAs is actually a really bad look for Jalen Hurts

Things were always going to look different for the Philadelphia Eagles offense in the 2024 season, regardless of what happens with quarterback Kenny Pickett, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the cross-state Pittsburgh Steelers. Perhaps the biggest change, actually, was hiring former Cowboys and Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to helm the offense in Philly.

We're getting our first glimpses of what this offense will look like as Eagles OTAs are underway with Pickett and starting QB Jalen Hurts getting their feet underneath them in Moore's offense. But to this point, the better performer has been a bit suprising.

Bob Brookover of NJ.com broke down what he saw from the first five practices from the Eagles quarterbacks and, trying to call it like he sees it, deemed that Pickett has outperformed Hurts to this point.

"That said, we write ‘em as we see ‘em and during the five practices open to the media it sure looked like backup quarterback Kenny Pickett out performed Jalen Hurts in workouts that mostly consisted of seven-on-seven drills."

Brookover noted that Pickett was sharp in many of the drills, showing a lot of poise on timing routes and even making some big plays in third-down situational drills or in the red zone. Hurts, on the other hand, was off target on several throws that need to be made.

Eagles praising Kenny Pickett is bad news for Jalen Hurts

It's great to see Pickett performing well in a new home and the Eagles' hope that he only needed a change of scenery to get closer to his draft billing as a first-rounder might be well-founded. At the same time, though, based on what we saw from Pickett in his time with the Steelers, it should be a concern that Hurts is already looking so far behind.

In his notes, Brookover noted that this is the fifth play-caller Hurts has worked under, so he's accustomed to learning a new offense. Hurts himself identified his shortcomings thus far too but expressed optimism about him picking things up as he goes along.

At the same time, though, this is a new offense for Pickett as well -- not to mention an entirely new group of teammates. So that isn't a built-in excuse for Hurts when his backup is coming into an even more unfamiliar situation and looking better. And again, it doesn't help the feeling around Hurts that we saw Pickett struggle mightily while in Pittsburgh at virtually every turn.

This is OTAs, though. This is the time when you want to work out the kinks, which Hurts is purportedly doing. It shouldn't be a reason to sound the alarms until training camp or the regular season if these issues were to continue. For now, it's something to monitor -- but it's definitely worth following closely giving how make-or-break of a situation this could be for the Eagles offense.