Jalen Hurts hasn’t played since before Christmas, and the quarterback remaining in concussion protocol to open this week prompted fair questions from Philadelphia Eagles fans: Will the star signal-caller be ready for Sunday’s wild-card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers? Coach Nick Sirianni has been mum on Hurts’ status, but the team hinted at the quarterback’s true progress with a roster move Tuesday.
The move in question: waiving reserve quarterback Ian Book. The former New Orleans Saints prospect, who also spent time with Philadelphia in 2022, rejoined the club’s practice squad in the days following Hurts’ initial Week 16 injury, and was quickly promoted to the active roster. He eventually served as the Eagles’ top backup in Week 18, with regular No. 2 Kenny Pickett also sidelined due to injury.
Because Book has now been outright released via waivers, the Eagles are set to enter the postseason with only Hurts, Pickett and third-stringer Tanner McKee at quarterback. Emergency No. 3 quarterbacks, meanwhile, must be on a team’s 53-man roster, even if they are inactive to start a game. In other words, by removing Book from the 53-man roster, the Eagles are signaling they expect to have three quarterbacks ready and able for Sunday’s game. That would include Hurts.
This jibes with recent reporting from NFL Media, which indicated Monday that Sirianni’s ambiguous answers regarding Hurts’ recovery are partially an effort of “gamesmanship,” and that Hurts is internally expected to be on the field when the Eagles play host the Packers.
