NEW ORLEANS — Anyone who’s followed the Philadelphia Eagles during Jalen Hurts’ tenure knows the quarterback is notoriously stoic, serving as the “ice” to coach Nick Sirianni’s “fire.” But is the former MVP candidate truly just as even-keeled behind closed doors, in the company of his teammates?
“All the smiles you see is all the smiles we see,” wide receiver Jahan Dotson tells CBSSports.com with a laugh.
But that’s just fine to Dotson and Hurts’ other peers.
Why? Because the quarterback is just being himself. And he outworks the rest. And, above all, he wins.
“One thing you notice about Jalen, just being here: He goes about his business,” Dotson continues from the Eagles’ team hotel ahead of Super Bowl LIX. “He doesn’t take days off. He gets extra reps in. I’m frickin’ in the weight room on Fridays, like, getting a massage or whatever, and he’s getting an extra lift in by himself. He’s always trying to be better. The work that he puts in, it shows.”
That unflinching composure is also drawing especially high praise from the other side, where the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs have taken notice.
“First and foremost his leadership style,” Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton said this week, when asked what sets Hurts apart from other quarterbacks. “I’ve kinda been around him; we were in college around the same time. … Guys got a lot of respect for him. I remember, when he was at Alabama, he scored a touchdown … and everybody on the bleachers came out, and he was a backup at the time. … Guys trust him to make the right plays. Coaches trust him. He’s a special player, man.”
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Bolton also believes Hurts’ demeanor doesn’t get enough credit for translating to on-field success, even though some Hurts skeptics tend to point first at the wealth of playmaking talent at his disposal.
“Everybody has talent around them in this league,” Bolton said. “You get to this part of the year, and nobody gets to these type of games without people around them. I think he elevates the talent around him.”
Fellow Chiefs defender George Karlaftis, who led the team in sacks, said Kansas City has “a lot of respect” for Hurts as both a passer and runner, insisting “he really can do it all.” He, too, recalls with fondness Hurts’ college days, when the quarterback famously endured a midgame benching during Alabama’s 2016 national championship, and believes that the Eagles’ signal-caller excels as a captain of a program.
“That whole journey for him, that was a nationally broadcast thing,” Karlaftis said, “and I gained a lot of respect for him. I was still in high school, but I was like, this guy seems like a great dude, salt of the earth.”
It’s no wonder Hurts’ Eagles peers vouch for his steady hand time and again, even after experiencing some headlining defeats in recent years, from 2022’s Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs to 2023’s late-season collapse.
“That’s who he is,” says wide receiver Parris Campbell. “He doesn’t change for anybody.”
And so far, that’s been primarily a good thing for Philadelphia.
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