Eagles' Second-Year Edge Rusher Keeps Piling Up Endorsements

Even the hottest political candidates don’t pick up the kind of endorsements Jalyx Hunt has been piling up at Eagles’ training camp.

Second-team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata made some grandiose comparisons when discussing the second-year edge defender, and emerging pass-rushing star Nolan Smith called the one-time Cornell safety “the best thing since sliced bread.”

The latest to jump on the Hunt ticket is veteran Patrick Johnson, who returned to the Eagles after spending most of last season up the New Jersey Turnpike with the New York Giants.

Johnson, who has been one of Michael Clay’s best special teams players, started the 2024 season with the Eagles before a roster crunch forced Philadelphia to risk him on waivers, and the Giants pounced.

Johnson, though, spent the offseason and training camp with the Eagles’ young pass rushers and now that he's back at the NovaCare Complex, is impressed with how much Hunt has grown in one year, both literally and figuratively.

“I tell you the person I feel like who's really made a huge jump is Jalyx,” Johnson said after practice Tuesday. “I know there’s been a lot of talking around him, just seeing him from his rookie year to his second year. Just the size he's put on, the speed, the strength, and how fast he wants to learn. 

“He's a quick learner.”

Johnson credits that to Hunt’s desire to learn, something that shouldn’t be a surprise because the rangy pass rusher started his college career in the Ivy League.

“He also wants to learn,” Johnson said. “... You don't get that all the time with guys.”

"I think he just learned from a good group of vets, you know? Johnson added. “I mean, he had Sweaty [former Eagles DE Josh Sweat], BG [former Eagles DE Brandon Graham], Me, Tarron Jackson, Nolan Smith.

“I mean, the list keeps going on, and so it's kind of hard not to learn, how to work and how to do the things right. And so he just, he's kind of caught on to what it is, and he just kept on pushing."