The Philadelphia Eagles kicked off the 2023 NFL regular season with a 10-1 start before losing six of their final seven games, including a first-round playoff loss.
Due to the Eagles’ devastating collapse, rumors spread about trouble brewing inside their locker room between coaches and players.
Several key members of the team attempted to shut down those rumors, including A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts and former Eagles veteran Fletcher Cox — but many still found it hard to believe that there weren’t any issues at the tail end of the season.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who has over 30 years of experience inside NFL locker rooms, appeared on 97.5 The Fanatic’s Kincade and Salciunas show this week where he was asked about the possible disconnect between Hurts and head coach Nick Sirianni last fall.
Schefter said he personally had not heard about any troubles between the Eagles’ head coach and their franchise quarterback but pointed out that it’s inevitable when you’re losing like the Eagles did.
“Anytime you come off the kind of year that the Eagles did where you lose as much they did down the stretch, where you go through everything that you did … I guarantee you people don’t like each other as much,” Schefter said. “That’s a natural bi-product of losing. I don’t think that’s surprising. I don’t think that’s unusual.”
“Anytime you come off the kind of year that the Eagles did, with the losing down the stretch, I guarantee people don’t like each other as much. That’s a natural biproduct of losing."
– @AdamSchefter on the relationship between Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni.
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— 97.5 The Fanatic (@975TheFanatic) March 20, 2024
Schefter’s answer aligns with what an Eagles’ source told A to Z Sports that there were some issues between Sirianni and Hurts. The unnamed source even went as far as to say that he was a bit surprised to see owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman keep Sirianni as their head coach in 2024 for several reasons, Hurts’ overall unhappiness being one of them.
But as Schefter mentioned these issues between coaches and players are not surprising at all and only a natural human reaction to repeatedly losing.
He adds that their problems and overall relationship can also be resolved if they get back on track to doing exactly what they did back in 2022.
“I guarantee you that if they have the kind of season this year that they did two years ago, I guarantee you that their relationship will be a lot better,” Schefter said.