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Donovan McNabb knows better than anyone what Jalen Hurts is in store for this year. The greatest quarterback in Philadelphia Eagles’ history was a lightning rod for criticism during his 11 seasons in midnight green. It wasn’t always easy for McNabb to hide his frustration, but he mostly weathered the storm and won a lot of football games.
McNabb left the organization after the 2009 season with 101 career wins (including playoffs). The 44-year-old jumped on the Associated Press Pro Football Podcast to give his thoughts on the new starter and the current state of the Eagles. McNabb was quick to highlight Hurts’ strong work ethic and drive, reminding people that “everywhere he’s been he’s won.”
But the retired NFL quarterback sees a lot of question marks for the franchise he guided to Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. Here is a snippet of his conversation with Rob Maaddi:
Do they have enough pieces around him [Hurts] to be successful is the question. I mean, offensive line, can they stay healthy? Don’t know what they’re going to do with [Zach] Ertz, I mean are they going to trade Ertz? What’s the situation with Ertz? So now he’s disgruntled.
Is Dallas Goedert the man? Is he going to be the one that all of a sudden we’re putting him in the class with [George] Kittle and [Travis] Kelce and [Darren] Waller and those guys? You know, will he be established on that offense?
Will Miles Sanders become more like a Brian Westbrook? Or LeSean McCoy? Can [DeVonta] Smith be that top receiver that they need in this offense? So there are a lot of questions going on around Jalen. So I think everybody wants to highlight Jalen because of the situation that just happened with Carson [Wentz].
But, you know, there’s a lot of questions going around just the offense alone and I haven’t even mentioned the defense. So I think for this football team there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that need to be fit in the right way before you can even focus on Jalen Hurts.
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Ron Jaworski Praises Rookie Receiver
Add another respected Eagles voice to the growing chorus singing DeVonta Smith’s praises. Former Philly quarterback Ron Jaworski doesn’t care that the 6-foot, 170-pound rookie from Alabama may be undersized by today’s NFL standards. You’re going to have to catch Smith off the line of scrimmage before you can even think about trying to tackle him.
“This guy has a quick twitch that’s going to just blow people away,” Jaworski said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “You can’t touch him at the line of scrimmage. May not have the blazing top speed but, man, can he get open. And he’s tough as nails. You just don’t hit Smith, he’s that quick, that agile. And when he gets hit, he’s like a quarterback, he knows how to turn and avoid getting hurt.”
Eagles radio play-by-play announcer Merrill Reese has gone on record saying that Smith “looks like he has springs on the bottom of his shoes.” It was something echoed by all his new teammates and coaches during spring OTAs.
Jason Kelce Bartending for Charity
All-Pro center Jason Kelce has been a fixture at the New Jersey shore ever since arriving in Philly way back in 2011. His favorite bar? Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City. On Wednesday (June 30), Kelce will serve as a guest bartender there from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. to help raise funds for “Team 62” which is his Eagles Autism Challenge fundraising team. In addition to the guest-bartending experience, the evening will feature raffles, auctions, and exclusive Eagles merchandise, with proceeds benefitting the Eagles Autism Foundation. The event is open to the public.
Autism has been the focused charity of choice for Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie since he bought the team in 1994. Their signature fundraising event, Eagles Autism Challenge, has raised more than $10 million for cutting-edge autism research and programs since 2018.
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