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Howie Roseman Describes Recent Jalen Hurts Articles as “Unfair”
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Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Tuesday and they were asked about the recent stories from Tim McManus and Jeff McLane that focused on Jalen Hurts:
“I have seen those reports. Bob (Lange) and our PR staff do a great job of showing us what we need to see. I would say that we have some faults. One of them is not being direct and honest with our players, and the conversations with our players. For us, if we have any issue with any of our players, we talk to them directly. From my perspective, from Nick’s perspective, from Jeffrey (Lurie’s) perspective, we’re not hiding behind anything. We will talk to our players directly. I think that it’s unfair, it’s unfair to have these articles written, but I understand it’s also what sells at this point. Yeah. I think its unfortunate.”
The wording is a little funky when the quote is written out, but Howie is saying that communicating with players is NOT a fault. He’s saying the front office and coaching staff is direct and communicative.
RE: the stories themselves, Nick touched on these reports two weeks ago in a story titled “Some Thoughts on the Latest Jalen Hurts Noise.” It was a T Mac + Jeremy Fowler article at ESPN and then a Jeff McLane Inquirer written story paired with a podcast episode that brought QB1 back into the spotlight. Tim’s story highlighted some internal friction from 2025 and dove deep on the offensive side of the ball, while McLane’s touched on Hurts being at a career inflection point.
Reading both stories again, I didn’t think there was anything “unfair” in the reporting itself. It’s McManus/Fowler and McLane, so two reputable guys with good track records. It wasn’t slopped together by some nobody writing for a nothing outlet. You can point to a larger level, “does this need to be written?” type of criticism, and I guess you could make the case that there’s an unnecessary pile-on after a disappointing season, but that’s typically when sources begin to talk, regardless of what Hurts has accomplished in the past.
That seems to the crux of most Jalen discussion, the fact that he is only one of two quarterbacks to ever win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, and therefore should probably get more leeway and respect. But the expectations here are high, and we are very much a “what have you done for me lately?” kind of town and a Super Bowl MVP is no exception. He’s not spared. And if you ask fans, most will probably tell you they want as much information as possible from the scribes who cover the team on a daily and weekly basis.
Still, it’s interesting to hear Howie Roseman respond this way, and call these articles “unfair” and “unfortunate,” because he doesn’t normally do that. He usually keeps things even keeled and doesn’t give too much to the media at all. He had another moment in this press conference regarding an A.J. Brown question:
Maybe Howie was just a little irked in this particular moment. The A.J. Brown stuff has to be annoying.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com