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Former No. 1 NFL Draft Pick Doubles Down On Benching Jalen Hurts For Marcus Mariota

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David Carr had the rare opportunity to put the toothpaste back in the tube on Wednesday night.

Instead, the former No. 1 NFL Draft pick doubled down on his incendiary take that the Philadelphia Eagles are better off benching Jalen Hurts for Marcus Mariota.

“Clearly, Jalen isn’t comfortable reading through a defense in a drop back pass scenario,” Carr said earlier in the week. “Some would say he’s not even good at it. And I think that when you look at this team, you have to have a serious conversation if you’re Philly, and you have to really say, ‘Is it better for us to play Marcus Mariota right now…”

“…If you’re Nick Sirianni this is the type of decision and conversation you have to have. If you have a big-picture mentality,” he continued. “And I think you can have that conversation honestly with Jalen and you if you sat him down. That’s all Jason talks about is the end result and getting to the Super Bowl and winning that thing. The best way we can do it. They didn’t run the football at all with him. Twice, that’s not it, man. That’s not the winning edge. Put Marcus in there. Win a couple games. Maybe have the number one seed still, you might have it.”

Unsurprisingly, his suggestion caused quite the hubbub.

Carr had the chance to clear the air on Wednesday. But instead of doing so, he opted to keep digging.

“Why play Marcus? I don’t know, to give Jalen a chance to rest, to sit,” Carr said adamantly. ” You can’t win with a backup quarterback? You can’t win with [Cincinnati Bengals quarterback] Jake Browning? With [Indianapolis Colts quarterback] Gardner Minshew? Gardner did it on this team, Philly, last season, when Jalen sat, right? He’s doing it right now in Indy. You can definitely do it with Marcus, who can run the football. You can give Marcus 25 carries on Sunday, 25. Go at it, create one and ones on the outside, I think that would be fantastic. if that’s the case and Jalen has to sit, great. And if he’s healthy, fully rested into the playoffs, they have a chance to win the Super Bowl.”
Hurts hasn’t looked as good in 2023 as he did in 2022. But he’s still be one of the league’s best quarterbacks. Meanwhile, Mariota literally quit on the last team he played for.
But hey, who are we to argue with a former NFL quarterback?