The Philadelphia Eagles are deep into training camp, and the early returns on the Sean Mannion-Jalen Hurts connection are encouraging. Mannion, the Eagles’ new offensive coordinator, went on the radio and offered a window into how he’s approaching play-calling and communication with his quarterback. He doesn’t know yet whether he’ll call plays from the booth or the field, but his philosophy on how the offense should feel for the quarterback was telling.

“Having played the position, I know what I wanted it to sound like coming into the quarterback,” Mannion said. “Calm, smooth communication. You’re not too frantic. I’ve been really comfortable with the communication with the quarterback.”

That right there is exactly what you want to hear. We’ve seen a lot of Hurts under center at practice. We’ve seen a lot more of that Shanahan-McVay style offense that we’ve been preaching about for months, and it’s good to finally see it materializing.

The overreactions to training camp need to stop

Now, has everything been perfect? No. The offense has been worse than the defense in camp, and there have been plenty of breakdowns floating around about Hurts throwing an interception here or missing a throw there. I don’t care. It’s August. I don’t care if the guy throws a pick. I don’t care if two guys aren’t on the same page yet. It’s going to take more than a week to learn a new offense. It’s going to take more than a week to go through all the ins and outs of a complex system that this team hasn’t run in years.

So no, I’m not going to sit here and overreact to Jalen Hurts in training camp. What I do want to focus on is the stuff that actually matters right now, and that’s the relationship between the coordinator and the quarterback. Mannion is focused on making Hurts comfortable. And on the flip side, Hurts is super hungry learning the new offense.

“He’s a capable learner,” Mannion added. “He knows how to take notes and ask questions. He’s a studier. He’s the last one on the field every day working on his footwork.”

Mannion is excited to have Hurts. Hurts feels like he’s fully buying into Mannion. It’s going to take time for everything to develop and come together, but this is what I want to hear as we begin camp and creep toward the preseason. I don’t care if he goes 20 for 35. I want to hear that he’s bought into learning, growing, and developing. That feeling never really seemed like it was there last season.

Hurts is preaching the right philosophy

Hurts himself spoke on the growth of the offense under Mannion, and his words were just as encouraging.

“Continue to take strides,” Hurts said. “I like to think of the term calibrating. This is a time where we’re kind of putting it together and finding out who we are. It’s been very good to be able to compete against the defense who has a built and set identity for who they are.”

It seems like Hurts is really preaching that philosophy. He wants consistency and relatability. He doesn’t want to have to change coordinators every year and learn new things. He wants to be comfortable. And I think that’s fair of him to feel. Think about it like having a new CEO every year at a company. How is anyone supposed to thrive in that environment? You can’t. You need stability, and Mannion represents that chance for stability.

It’s going to take some time. But the way Hurts is talking, his demeanor, the energy he’s bringing to this thing, you can tell he’s so much more bought in with Mannion than he ever was with Kevin Patullo.