Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and current Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson have a long relationship. This factor became particularly relevant to the Eagles' decision to release Johnson.
At the start of Wednesday's season-ending press conference, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the decision to fire Johnson, and was specifically asked if he spoke to Hurts during the decision-making process.
Sirianni avoided the problem at the time. He was later asked to elaborate on Hurts' reaction to Brian Johnson's firing.
“Obviously they have a relationship,” Sirianni said. “You have to ask Jalen when you get a chance to talk to him. But whenever you have to let people go, it hurts all of us when we let people go. All of us. That's the worst part of the job: having to let people go.
“It doesn’t just affect the person you let go of. It affects the families, and it affects – there's a friendship that we've worked with every day for the last three years, and we've spent a lot more time together than we have with our families or our loved ones, and man comes closer and close bonds develop.
“I don't even want to get into what every player will get out of this – everyone will suffer, not just the guy who was let go but the friendships that exist – they're not over yet, but neither will you See person every day as you have in the past.
“That's the hardest part of this business, in my opinion, if I can explain that on the human side of this thing, saying goodbye to friends is the hardest part of this business, and I can't – it's the worst part.” . I really can't explain to you how crappy it feels when you have to do things like that and everyone feels it, coach after coach, player after coach.
“Like I said, Brian has done so many good things and this too [G.M.] Howie [Roseman] what we talked about, the games we won, the success we had, Brian was a big part of that and we are all sad about what happened and what is happening now.”
So if Hurts was upset about Johnson's firing, Sirianni didn't say so. And the reporters who cover the Eagles won't have access to Hurts during a press conference for months.
What hurts about Johnson getting fired? Does he think Johnson deserves it? Did he accept it? Or does he think Johnson was made a scapegoat for the offense's struggles in 2023?
Until we know what Hurts really thought about firing Johnson, it's impossible to know what Hurts thinks about the Eagles moving forward.