Jalen Hurts Makes Powerful Statement After Seeing Steve McNair Memorial In Nashville

Jalen Hurts does not treat the historic venues around the NFL as a simple business trip.

Sep 20, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) stands in the pocket against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at Nissan Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts does not treat the historic venues around the NFL as a simple business trip. Asked Thursday whether he studies the history of venues like his next stop, Chicago’s Soldier Field, the same way he delves into the quarterbacks who preceded him in Philadelphia, the Eagles’ QB1 offered a quieter, more personal peek into his foundational upbringing as a signal-caller.

Last Sunday in Nashville, as the Eagles team bus pulled up to Nissan Stadium, Hurts saw Steve McNair’s image on the exterior wall.

“It was a really good feeling and a really emotional feeling,” Hurts said. “Pulling up to the stadium and seeing Steve McNair on the wallpaper outside. He was one of the—he’s the only one that I’ve looked up to.

“I get to meet MJ [Michael Jordan] and build relationships with him and Tom Brady and all these other guys. Not to name—Steve McNair is the only one that I’ve truly looked up to and watched and been enamored by and never got to meet him.”

The Only One

The moment had a deeper meaning for Hurts, who has spoken for years about studying the lineage of Eagles’ African-American quarterbacks like Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick.

Hurts explained that the McNair mural reminded him of why those connections matter.

“It’s an example of the history of the game and how you, as a player, you attach to the examples before you, the trailblazers before you so you can blaze your own trails,” he said.

Pressed on what specifically drew him to McNair, Hurts did not hesitate.

“Everything. I can go on and on about his ability, the demeanor. And he came from the SWAC, and so it was, nobody expected it,” said Hurts. “It was just kind of before his time or something. There’s a lot of history at the position and being a Black quarterback. The history of the Black quarterback at Philadelphia, I think he falls right in suit with some of the greats that have come here with some of the things that they’ve had to overcome and the example that he set.”

Hurts also noted McNair’s chain of influence: as a kid the Eagles’ starter admired Vince Young, only later learning Young himself had looked up to McNair.

“You got great examples out there. And we’re all still kids,” Hurts said. “So that was a moment for me.”

The comments came as the 2-0 Eagles began on-field preparations for Monday night at Soldier Field against the Bears.

Hurts has long cited McNair, an Alcorn State product who developed into the 2003 NFL co-MVP, and a dual-threat pioneer who was tragically murdered in 2009, as a model for his own game.

Last week’s Nashville stop only made the admiration visible again.

For a quarterback often described as guarded, the answer was unusually personal.

Some stadiums still carry the memory of the men who played there, and some of those men still shape the next generation.

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