Eagles veteran addresses report about Jalen Hurts needing to 'connect more' with teammates

For better or worse, drama continues to hover over the 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles for a second straight campaign. 

On Tuesday, Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation shared that NFL insider Jay Glazer mentioned on the latest edition of "The NFL On Fox Podcast" that veteran defensive end Brandon Graham and Eagles senior advisor to the general manager/chief security officer/head of "gameday coaching operations" Dom DiSandro went to Jalen Hurts' home during the team's Week 5 bye and told the quarterback that "we need you to kind of connect more with everybody here."

Per Manny Gomez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, Graham later took to Instagram and responded to a post about Glazer's report. 

"Lies lol," Graham wrote. 

Graham recently generated headlines when, one day after Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown seemed to criticize Hurts, he claimed the two "were friends, but things have changed." Graham later apologized to teammates for what he referred to as a "mistake," and Hurts subsequently completed 25-of-32 passes for 290 yards and a pair of touchdowns, guiding the Eagles to a 27-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday. 

While it was previously revealed that Hurts and head coach Nick Sirianni spent parts of Philadelphia's bye together when the club was 2-2, Glazer's report raised eyebrows, considering Hurts' leadership style came into question after the 2023 Eagles suffered a brutal collapse that included them losing six of their final seven games (including the wild-card round of the playoffs). 

Understandably, Graham wouldn't want outsiders to believe Hurts needed some intervention to become a better leader. Still, it's also worth noting that Philadelphia has won 10 straight games following whatever did and/or didn't happen during the team's break. As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Eagles as the betting favorites at +220 odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX.

An unknown "problem that would splinter any group of men" allegedly impacted the Eagles in the second half of the 2023 season. The club doesn't seem to be dealing with such an issue ahead of this Sunday's game at the 9-5 Washington Commanders, but it remains to be seen if everybody involved will stay on the same page through the upcoming postseason tournament.