Troy Aikman: Doug Pederson wanted Jalen Hurts, Jeffrey Lurie wanted Carson Wentz

[Swoop]

Getty Images

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s decision to fire coach Doug Pederson may have stemmed from a difference of opinion about who should be the team’s starting quarterback going forward.

Pederson thinks Jalen Hurts gives the Eagles the best chance to win, and Lurie wants to salvage Carson Wentz, according to Troy Aikman, who said on Michael Irvin’s podcast that he spoke to Pederson after Pederson was fired.

“I reached out to Doug Pederson yesterday when I heard the news,” Aikman said. “What I gathered it came down to was a difference of opinion as to how they’re moving forward at the quarterback position, is what I sensed. Jeff Lurie, the owner, has paid a lot of money to Carson Wentz, and they’re on the hook with him, they can’t get out of that contract right away. It’s my belief that Doug Pederson felt that Jalen Hurts is probably the quarterback going forward. And how does that mesh?”

Aikman said Pederson’s firing was “complex” and not just about the quarterback position. But Wentz’s regression, and the emergence of Hurts, is a major issue the Eagles have to address going forward. And if Lurie and Pederson weren’t on the same page, one of them was going to have to go. And it wasn’t going to be the owner.