Getty Randall Cunningham wore the kelly green uniform better than anybody in Philadelphia Eagles franchise history.
No player wore that beautiful, crisp “kelly green” jersey better than Randall Cunningham. Maybe Jalen Hurts will get a chance to one-up the former franchise quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The NFL approved a new policy that will allow teams to use two different helmets during the 2022 season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deadline for submitting permission to use the second helmet is July 31. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has long talked about bringing back Cunningham’s “kelly green” as an alternate uniform as long as he’s owned the franchise. The hold-up for Lurie was that league rules dictated that the helmet couldn’t be changed. He didn’t want to send his guys out on the field with mismatched colors.
“The whole key is that we want a kelly green helmet to go with the kelly green jerseys,” Lurie told reporters in 2019, via CBS Sports. “We’re trying to get the league to allow a second helmet. That’s where it’s at, so they very much know we want this and we want it badly, and we’re waiting.”
.@JalenHurts rocking No. 2 in Philly’s kelly green unis.
Too clean.
Well, that problem has been solved. The Eagles haven’t yet announced if they’ll be taking advantage of the rule change but it stands to reason they would. Lurie has been passionataly advocating for changing the one-helmet rule dating back to 2018 when he lobbied the NFL’s competition committee.
“It’s a one-helmet league. There’s ramifications in that, I suppose,” Lurie told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “They know that with the Eagles, it’s important to us. We really want to be able to have kelly green jerseys at time and to make it look really right, you have to have matching helmets.”
UPDATE: The Eagles already submitted a request to wear their black alternate jerseys, per The Inquirer’s Rob Tornoe, so any new helmet — including a “kelly green” one — would have to be worn with the black uniform. That means the earliest the franchise could wear a “kelly green” helmet and jersey would be 2023. Tornoe received an official statement from the Eagles on the matter:
An Eagles spokesperson said the team was “excited about the possibilities and is beginning to look into its options, as the policy was just released. Any new developments will be announced at the appropriate time.”
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Hurts Left Off Chris Simms’ Top 40
It doesn’t seem to matter what color jersey that Hurts has on these days. The second-year quarterback has been getting no love from the national media. Pro Football Focus ranked him the second-worst signal-caller in the league entering the 2021 campaign, citing “nine turnover-worthy plays” in his last four games.
Now NBC Sports’ analyst Chris Simms has omitted Hurts completely from his list of the Top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL. Guys ahead of the talented 22-year-old? Jared Goff (31). Drew Lock (33). Tyrod Taylor (35). Kellen Mond (37). Justin Fields (39). Case Keenum (40). That’s right. Simms has backups and rookies ahead of Hurts.
The Top 40 QB is done. Putting Josh Allen over Aaron Rodgers was the hardest call of the whole list for me. I talk through the Top 4 here:
t.co/oyfwxglhiL
Also taking questions for tomorrow’s #AskMeAnything pod with @PaulWBurmeister
DeVonta Smith Surprises Mom with New House
Eagles’ first-round pick DeVonta Smith has been riding the hype train ever since April’s draft. He has Philly play-by-play radio announcer Merrill Reese drooling. And he’s been compared to Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison. Fresh off inking his $20.1 million rookie contract, the explosive young receiver decided to buy his mom a house.
