Eagles’ Jalen Hurts Reacts to Nick Siranni Future Question with Vague Answer
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TAMPA – Every player in the locker room asked about Nick Sirianni and his job security defended him.
There was one player at the podium, however, who had the opportunity to be more convincing on the return of the Philadelphia Eagles head coach, but simply left doubt hanging in the air.
And that player is the most important player on the team, quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Asked in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, with the 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hours earlier still fresh, if he wanted his coach back, Hurts didn’t say yes or no.
“I didn’t know he was going anywhere,” said Hurts.
The QB said he wasn’t aware of the questions swirling about Sirianni’s job after the Eagles lost six of their final seven games of the season, going from 10-1 to 11-7.
Asked about his confidence that Sirianni is the right person to fix things, Hurts said: “I have a ton of confidence in everyone in this building, it’s just a matter of us going out there and playing clean football. That’s been something that we have not done.”
Nick Sirianni after the season-ending loss in Tampa
Ed Kracz/SI Eagles Today
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, at least not compared to some other players, such as edge rusher Haason Reddick.
“Everybody knows it’s difficult to be a head coach in the league,” he said. “So much love for him last year with what we had going on, but you know we had ups and downs this year, and a lot of people felt however they felt about it, but the blame doesn’t go on one person, the blame doesn’t just go on for Nick for what happened. This is a team thing, it’s a collective effort between coaches and players.”
Added right tackle Lane Johnson: “It’s hard to explain the second half of the season, it’s frustrating and I have no explanation for that, but as far as those guys, I love my teammates, I love my coaches. I’m down to battle with those guys and I have been for the past 11 years, but the NFL is a business. What the future holds, I don’t know.”
As for Sirianni himself, he said he wasn’t thinking about his job security.
“I’m not thinking about that,” he said. “I’m thinking about the guys. There’s a lot of guys in that locker room … that put their heart and soul into this.
“I’m not worried about me. I’m not. As the head coach, I’m just trying to be there for our guys and staff right now through a tough time.”
