The Evolution of Jalen Hurts: Part 4 - How the Out Route Became His Best Throw

A closer look at the development of the Eagles’ franchise quarterback.

This is the fourth and final of a series of posts, breaking down how Jalen Hurts has dramatically improved his game since he joined the league. Each category focuses on a specific type of mistake he used to make—and how he’s grown past it. The whole series will be linked to an episode of my podcast, which you can find here. I have a huge thank you to James Foster (one of the best analysts out there) for providing me with old Hurts’ film and for helping with this series. Go and follow him and subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Previously: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Part 4 - How the Out Route Became Jalen Hurts’ Best Throw

As I continue to read the news and see analysts disrespecting Jalen Hurts, I am so glad I decided to do this series! I hope I’ve managed to cover the significant areas of Hurts’ improvement. I think Hurts is one of the best throwers of an out route in the NFL right now. I can’t pretend that I study every quarterback as I do with Hurts, but I haven’t seen many players who currently throws it better than he does. There are so many examples of this route in his film over the past few years, but he didn’t always excel at it! In the early stages of Jalen Hurts’ NFL career, out routes were another issue due to the lack of timing and arm strength.

Let’s have a look at the 2020-21 film again. You can see that his throws to the sideline were often late and lacked velocity. Just look at set one.

Look at the clip against Dallas, for example, which shows Hurts throwing late to the outside on a timing route. DeVonta Smith loses his footing, but the bigger issue is how easily Trevon Diggs jumps it for a pick-six. Hurts stares down the route, hesitates, and delivers a ball inside and late. You can’t throw out-breaking routes like that in the NFL. They are probably the most dangerous throws to make because they will turn into an instant pick-six.

It wasn’t a one-off, either. The second throw, against the Saints, is even worse. Late trigger, poor anticipation, inside placement, and a lack of juice. It was nearly another interception, and a clear example of a quarterback who didn’t trust what he was seeing or have the processing speed to throw it on time. No route in the NFL requires more timing and arm talent than the deep out.

Hurts’ struggles with outs made sense. Just think of the other parts of this series. Hurts didn’t have a cannon, so he couldn’t get away with being late the way a quarterback like Josh Allen can. If he wasn’t decisive and early, the defense had a chance to make a play. And he was frequently late to these types of throws.

However, let’s look...