The Philadelphia Eagles hosted training camp practice at Lincoln Financial over the weekend, opening up the stadium to thousands of fans eager to see their team bounce back from a loss in Super Bowl LVII versus the Chiefs. The main attraction, however, was quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Fans greeted Hurts at practice with deafening chants of “MVP, MVP, MVP!”
Last season, the former Sooners star finished second in the MVP voting to Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but fans clearly think it’s only a matter of time before their guy takes home the honor.
As he’s unlikely to play much, if any, of the Eagles’ preseason games, the open training camp practices are fans’ best opportunity to see Hurts in action before the start of the regular season.
Philadelphia takes on Baltimore on Saturday, then the Browns next week and the Colts in the final week of the preseason. They start the season with a road game versus Bill Belichick, Mac Jones, and the New England Patriots.
Eagles fans high on star QB
Hurts, the Eagles’ second-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma, had the first Pro Bowl season of his career in 2022, emerging as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
He ended the year with 3,701 passing yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions on 66.5% passing. The third-year quarterback added 760 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground.
Hurts led the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII where he put on an MVP-worthy performance despite the defeat. He completed 27-of-38 passes for 304 yards and a score. He also rushed for 70 yards and three touchdowns. Philadelphia rewarded him with a five-year, $255 million extension in April. It made him the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time. Lamar Jackson‘s contract would surpass his days later, then Justin Herbert‘s did as well last month.
Hurts turns down ‘Quarterback’
Hurts was a naturally intriguing option for Peyton Manning to consider for his Omaha Productions/Netflix series Quarterback. However, Hurts told reporters at training camp that not has he not watched it, he was asked to participate for the first season and turned it down.
The Philadelphia Eagles starter explained his reasoning during a press conference and promised his story would be told one day.
“I have not,” Hurts admitted. “I actually turned it down last year… didn’t think it was appropriate for the year, so I turned it down. That time will come. I know there’s a lot of the journey to be told and a lot yet to unfold that will be told one day, that time will come.”
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