Jalen Hurts Meets Patriots Challenge
PHILADELPHIA - Competition has been the word of the summer around the NovaCare Complex and Monday's joint-practice session with the New England Patriots proved that external competition always lights the fire a little more than the internal variety.
The Eagles' offense had one of its sharpest performances of training camp with Jalen Hurts having perhaps his best day when it comes to intermediate throws. The presumptive QB1 also still had the big play in him as well, finding Jalen Reagor down the left sideline for a big-gainer.
Reagor himself had his best practice of camp and others WRs like Quez Watkins, Greg Ward, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside were able to make plays.
"It felt good, got the competitive juices flowing. Everybody’s out there competing, paying fast. A lot of good things out there today," Hurts assessed.
The offense nearly punctuated a solid performance on a late hurry-up performance in which Hurts seemingly found Reagor for a TD just inside the end zone.
The play happened to be directly in front of where SI.com's Eagle Maven was standing, however, and the official threw his hat to the ground, indicating Reagor stepped out of bounds. More so, the ball seemed to hit the turf but Hurts was counting it.
"As far as I’m concerned, I rolled out to the right hit him for a touchdown," Hurts said. "We’ll take it."
Everything wasn't great during the practice and a couple of teammates let Hurts down in 7-on-7 work when a pair of passes bounced off the hands of Zach Ertz and Kenny Gainwell, respectfully, leading to interceptions.
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Hurts, however, continues to improve his chemistry with a young group of receivers.
"I talked about how repetition brings confidence and it brings comfort, and it’s a real thing," the QB said. "I see it in all of the receivers. I see it in everybody. The more reps they get in the offense, the more we’re being coached, the better we are. It’s always an uphill climb and we just want to continue to take those steps every day."
New England being in also brought up the obvious comparisons with veteran Cam Newton, in many ways a bigger, older, and more experienced model when it comes to Hurts and skillset.
Like Newton, Hurts flashes impressive running ability to go along with some accuracy problems when throwing the football. Newton's running ability is also built more on power than speed just like Hurts.
"This is my first time actually meeting him in person," Hurts said of Newton. "I know in the past in the midst of trying to find out where I was going to go the second time around (in college], he called me.
"I’ve also had communication with him just from an older athlete, obviously a legendary player from things he’s done in college and in the league, I watched him a lot growing up. So, being able to talk to him, being able to have a relationship with him and meet him in person for the first time was great."
Hurts is also very familiar with the Pats' long-term future at QB, former Alabama signal-caller Mac Jones, a first-round pick back in April.
"I think he’s a great player," said Hurts. "We spend a lot of time together at Alabama when him and Tua [Tagovailoa] came in. I’ve seen him grow so much and it’s good to see him now, seeing him with the opportunity he has now and I’m excited for him."
Hurts, though, is most excited about getting better every day no matter the hurdle put in front of him.
"You have to be optimistic about it all," he said. "It’s about how you see it. Is the glass half empty or is half full," he explained. "Every opportunity we have to go out there, whether it’s the same looks we’re getting or different looks, are we executing?
"Are we doing the things we need to do? I’m talking about a positive and a negative on every play. Regardless of what look they give us, we have to respond the right way offensively and make a positive play out of it. Just doing your job, simply doing your job."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
