Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spent the past week looking over the draft prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine, including 14 quarterbacks. During his combine press conference, Roseman was asked the things that turned him off when evaluating quarterbacks.

The short answer would have been the opposite attributes of the quarterback that Roseman has now. Instead, Roseman ran down what makes Jalen Hurts a Pro Bowler.

“Just look at our starting quarterback and the traits that he has,” Roseman said. “Unbelievable work ethic, unbelievable physical talent, a desire to be coached, a desire to learn. Off the field, all he wants to do is work and be with family and friends. I think it’s a lot of the things that you look for in any leader in any organization to have these kind of traits.

“And obviously there are physical parts of that that go with accuracy and anticipation and being able to extend plays and being able to make every throw.”

While Roseman had nothing but praise for Hurts, not everyone had that attitude coming down the stretch in 2023 season.

After capturing the NFC championship in 2022, the Eagles won 10 of their first 11 games in 2023. But they won only one more time the rest of the season and bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. The even-keeled approach maintained by Hurts became a target for critics who wondered if a more demonstrative attitude could have shaken Philadelphia from its fall.

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“There’s not a book that’s written on: This is how you lead,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said during his press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine. “People lead in different ways. One thing that I learned early about leadership is you have to be yourself because if you lead and you’re trying to be somebody you’re not when you lead, that gets seen through. That’s just the same scenario I was put in when I became the head coach or an offensive coordinator or whatever it was. Everybody has to lead their way.

“Jalen has special qualities that people will follow and people will want to follow. And he’s got to do what he needs to do to lead in that way. Some people’s leadership style is loud and aggressive. Some people’s leadership style is by example. And some is a mixture of both. And so Jalen needs to lead how he needs to lead … because that’s leadership – being who you are. At the end of the day, if you’re leading by example, that’s a great style of leadership. Jalen needs to lead how he needs to lead, and I think he’s done a great job of doing so. And just like he’s done in other things, he’ll get better in that part of this game. And he’ll get better just because I know he’ll continue to work on getting better no matter what part of the game he needs to work at.”

During Philadelphia’s 1-5 finish to the 2023 regular season, Hurts’ passing stats took a step back. In the first 11 games of the season, Hurts completed 67.6 percent of his passes, averaged 245.2 passing yards per game, totaled 18 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions and had a passing-efficiency rating of 94.9. In the final six games of the regular season, the former Alabama QB completed 61.1 percent of his passes, averaged 193.5 passing yards per game, totaled five touchdowns and five interceptions and had a passing-efficiency rating of 77.6.

Sirianni said the Eagles’ downturn couldn’t be pinned on Hurts.

“Jalen’s obviously had high moments of success,” Sirianni said. “In 2022, runner-up for the MVP Award. And through the first 11 games, the same thing here. And then we had a falloff as a team. And it wasn’t just Jalen. It’s not just me. It’s our team that we had a falloff as a team the last six weeks that we all need to get better from. But Jalen’s played some really outstanding football.

“Here’s what I know about Jalen: Whatever we see that he needs to work on or he sees he needs to work on, he’s going to get better at that because he puts everything he has into it. And that’s a form of leadership, too. Jalen sees something that he feels is a weakness of his or we feel like is a weakness of his, he’s going to dive everything that he has and pour everything he has into it to get better. That’s leadership. That’s a form of leadership.

“Obviously, I’ll keep some of the things we’ve all talked about – what I need to get better at, what he needs to get better at – to ourselves. But I know this – that he’ll put everything he has into getting better as a football player, being better as a quarterback so we can win more games as a team.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.