The only way the Eagles can solve the Hurts-Wentz dilemma

If Jalen Hurts had been terrible, easy call. Carson’s your starter next year.

If Jalen Hurts had been dazzling, easy call. Jalen’s your starter next year.

Here we are with one game to go, and Hurts is right smack in the middle. Lots of good, Lots of bad. Which makes a tricky situation even trickier.

Hurts has done some impressive things in his three starts. He’s thrown the ball better than expected, he’s shown tremendous poise and pocket awareness, he’s made tons of plays with his legs. For a 22-year-old kid in his first three NFL starts, there’s a lot to like.

And Hurts has done some disappointing things in these three starts. He’s fumbled five times (and eight times this year), he’s completed below 57 percent of his passes in all three starts, he’s struggled badly in each second half, and in Dallas Sunday he threw his first two interceptions since becoming the starter.

He’s played exactly like a young quarterback.

A lot of exciting plays, a lot of mistakes. That’s to be expected. Especially for a kid who didn’t have any preseason games, has had to meet with his coaches and teammates virtually and doesn’t have the luxury of a WR1.

If you’re a Hurts guy, you’re going to look at the five TD passes, a win over a 10-win Saints team and the 5.8 yards per carry.

If you’re a Carson guy, you’re going to look at the 53.8 second-half passer rating, the ball security issues and a 1-2 record.

But if you’re the Eagles, you have to look at everything. And it’s inconclusive. And honestly I don’t think there’s much Hurts can do Sunday against Washington to change that in either direction.

Is he the savior? Nah. Is he terrible? Nah.

So what is he?

We don’t know. And neither do the Eagles.

What makes this all so complicated is that we really don’t know what Carson Wentz is either at this point in his career. And neither do the Eagles.

What percent of his struggles through 12 ½ games were simply a quarterback in a slump surrounded by subpar weapons getting no help from the coach? And what percent were unfixable – something physical, something internally that’s changed since last season ended, something impossible to diagnose?

Have the Eagles seen enough from Hurts to trade Wentz and risk watching the Carson Wentz of 2017 through 2019 reappear with another team?

No way.

Have they seen enough from Hurts to decide unequivocally that he has no chance to be The Guy moving forward?

No way.

We just don’t know. They don’t know. Nobody knows.

It’s literally impossible for the Eagles to decide this thing based on what we know, which virtually guarantees that Wentz and Hurts will both be here next year.

Whoever the quarterback is, Howie Roseman – or whoever’s picking players this offseason – has to surround him with better weapons and Doug Pederson – or whoever’s calling the plays – has to do a better job balancing the offense and figuring out how to attack defenses.

But based on what we've seen? There’s just no way to make this call with any guarantee that you'll be right.

So the only possible solution is bring them both back.

You could have them compete in training camp, but what I think is most likely is that the Eagles make it clear to everyone Wentz is No. 1 going into training camp and that the organization is committed to him. Give him every chance to return to form.

And if it just doesn’t happen? Hurts is waiting in the wings with a good month of experience from 2020 to build on, and Wentz’s cap hit is manageable if you trade him after next season.

And if neither one plays well next year?

That means the Eagles will probably be back drafting in the top 10 again in April of 2022.

And then it’s time to draft a quarterback.

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