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Can Jalen Hurts Run a West Coast Offense? Garry Cobb Weighs In

The Eagles hired coaches who want to run a West Coast offense. There's no RPO guys on this staff. Can Hurts adapt?

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The JAKIB Staff

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The new Eagles offensive staff has a clear identity: West Coast offense. No more heavy RPO packages. No more QB runs on every third play. This is a passing-first, timing-based system.

The question everyone is asking: Can Jalen Hurts run it?

Eagles legend Garry Cobb believes he can. As Cobb explained, no West Coast offense is purely traditional anymore. Every system has elements borrowed from other schemes, and every offense takes on the personality of its quarterback.

Hurts has been in the league long enough to have seen concepts from multiple systems. The Eagles themselves have borrowed West Coast principles in the past. It's not like he's starting from scratch.

The key is how the new staff adapts the scheme to Hurts' strengths. He's not Joe Montana. He's not going to stand in the pocket and deliver perfect timing throws on every down. But he can move, he can extend plays, and he can punish defenses that overcommit to the pass.

The smart move is incorporating his athleticism into a West Coast framework. Play-action bootlegs. Designed rollouts. Quick game with run-after-catch opportunities. Give him simple reads with explosive options.

If the new staff tries to force Hurts into a pure pocket-passer role, it won't work. But if they're smart enough to blend systems — and they were hired specifically because they promised to maximize this roster — Hurts will flourish.

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