At the far end of the NovaCare Complex practice facility in early June, Jalen Hurts was a shadowy, solitary figure casually flinging passes in a blue sweatsuit and faded blue throwback Montreal Expos cap. <\/p>\n
Yet, the focus of the hundreds of people gathered there seemed to be the players on the Eagles\u2019 practice fields in front them, a handful of girls\u2019 flag football teams playing for the respective Pennsylvania and New Jersey Flag Football Championships<\/a>. No one actually noticed the Super Bowl<\/a> MVP until he came over to one of the main fields to watch.<\/p>\n Once fixed in, Hurts stayed to watch the semifinal and championship rounds. Hurts has become the face of the NFL\u2019s flag football initiative<\/a>, promoting the arrival of men\u2019s and women\u2019s flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and who knows, maybe one day winning an Olympic gold medal as the quarterback for Team USA\u2019s first flag football team.<\/p>\n For now, Hurts will laud over the kingdom of the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> fanbase.<\/p>\n So far, he\u2019s been a good king.<\/p>\n It\u2019s taken a few years, but Hurts is gradually coming out of his guarded shell. On this particular day, Sunday, June 1, the Eagles\u2019 franchise quarterback was very generous with his time, incredibly approachable, incredibly accommodating, and incredibly transparent. One of the coaches, who also knows a former area star high school quarterback that Hurts is mentoring, approached Hurts to ask if he had heard anything recently from their mutual friend. At first, a security officer tried to brush off the coach, but Hurts waved off the security guard and approached the coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was impressive,\u201d the coach came away saying. \u201cYou see and hear all the time about these star athletes taking the time mentoring kids, when they don\u2019t invest any real time with them at all. They do it because it makes them look good. Jalen knew everything about (the kid) I coached and asked me if he was thinking of transferring schools. He even knew the schools the kid was thinking about. He told me to make sure to check on a few things, which also impressed me, because it told me Jalen knows the kid.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the same kid tried approaching a particular basketball star in this city, he was royally blown off, and you know who I am referring to. Hurts spoke to him. I know he speaks to numerous kids in the area. You could see that he\u2019s genuinely investing in the area. I will say one thing: I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d suggest to anyone that they shake his hand or hug the man. His hand is like a vice grip. It was like hugging a piece of steel. It\u2019s like bullets could bounce off that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n A few years ago, Hurts may not have allowed people to enter his personal sphere like that.<\/p>\n Maybe it was seeing a different side of himself that he is allowing the public to see, after seeing his reflection in the Super Bowl LIX trophy through a puff of cigar smoke. Maybe it\u2019s because he is settling into who he is, as a leader, on and off the field, that a new approachable Hurts is surfacing.<\/p>\n Hurts was once considered an obstacle to the Eagles\u2019 success, until he wasn\u2019t. He was at the core of the Eagles\u2019 Super Bowl LIX championship. He gave up a huge chunk of his game for the greater good. He was willing to accept a more limited role in the offense behind Saquon Barkley, and when needed, he responded. After winning the NFC Championship<\/a>, 55-23, over Washington, Hurts said snarkily about the game plan \u201cthey let me out of my straitjacket a little bit today.\u201d Nick Sirianni claimed Hurts was joking. The eventual Super Bowl MVP wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n In the NFC Championship, he ran for three touchdowns, completed 20-of-28 passes for 246 yards and another score. He threw for over 200 yards 10 times last season and threw for over 200 yards 11 times in 2023, which included four 300-yard games. He threw for over 300 yards once last season, while throwing 452 passes. In 2023, he threw 538 times in the regular season alone. In 2024, he threw a career-low 361 passes as a fulltime starter during the regular season.<\/p>\n In 2023, he had seven-straight games in which he threw for 200 yards or more. In 2024, his longest 200-yard streak of games was four.<\/p>\n After the NFC championship, Hurts said, \u201cI don\u2019t play the game for stats. I don\u2019t play the game for numbers, any statistical approval from anyone else. And I understand that everyone has a preconceived notion on how they want it to look, or how they expect it to look. I told you guys that winning, success, is defined by that particular individual, and it\u2019s all relative to the person. And what I define it as is winning. So, the number one goal is always to come out here and win.\u201d<\/p>\n