Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith: Finally, a Video That Can be Believed
Off-season videos mean very little.
Sixers point guard Ben Simmons taught Philadelphia fans that harsh lesson. Nobody was better at posting videos showing Ben Simmons shooting jump shots in some gym in some unknown locale than Ben Simmons himself only to see Ben Simmons not dare shoot a jumper during the Sixers' regular season or playoffs.
So, it should be easy to curb any enthusiasm over the video that emerged this past weekend showing Jalen Hurts connecting on a deep pass with DeVonta Smith during a recently shared workout the Eagles teammates had.
The video was shot by Nicole Lynn, the president of football operations for Klutch Sports and agent for both Hurts and Smith.
When the video was made isn’t clear, but the assumption is it wasn’t that long ago and certainly after the Eagles wrapped up their spring workouts on June 4. It was released on the same weekend that Hurts and his brother Averion Hurts, Jr., hosted a camp for youth football players in Hoover, Ala.
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The video, however, should prove more fruitful than anything Simmons put out there because Hurts and Smith are one of the biggest reasons – if not the biggest - for Eagles fans to be excited about the coming season.
See the video here:
The two have the potential to be one of the NFL’s dynamic duos for years to come, and it all starts this fall.
Actually, it began this spring, and that’s why the video isn’t something anybody who took in at least one or all three of the Eagles briefly-open OTA practices this spring hasn't seen in person.
The connection was witnessed only during individual drills because there weren’t any seven-on-seven or 11-on-11 drills done during the three weeks of on-field work.
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Nevertheless, it is a connection that should bear plenty of fruit this season.
“We have to continue building that,” said Smith about his chemistry with Hurts last month. “Just because we had the connection in college doesn’t mean that it’s the same as now. We’ve both grown as players, both have things we added to our games.
“We have to build from that and get better. I feel like whatever we did in college has nothing to do with now because things change over time. He’s grown a lot. He’s smarter.
"The decision making that he does, he works hard, and he understands everything a lot more … Everything is getting better, and it’s only going to keep getting better as we get going.”
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Prior to the Eagles trading up two spots to draft Smith 10th overall, he and Hurts talked about the possibility of becoming teammates again.
“I always tell people the first thing about him, one, the competitor he is, kind of a stoic guy, kind of like myself in a few ways,” said Hurts earlier this month. “He’s self-driven, and bringing in someone like that, I think it helps just in the presence of him being here.
“I look at the late nights that we had in college, when we had nothing else to do, we’d go out there and go throw. Or when I was on his recruiting visit to go to Alabama, usually you want to go on the strip (the main drag in Tuscaloosa) … or find something to get into, like a party or something like that.
"His head wasn’t on that. He was trying to work indoor late at night, get work in, and I think that shows the mentality that he has, and he’s bringing all that with him.”
It certainly feels and sounds like this video is one Philadelphia fans can finally believe in.
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 and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
