Following the Maxwell Awards at Harrah’s in Atlantic City, Eagles legend Brian Dawkins showed high hopes for starting quarterback Jalen Hurts.

“Obviously, with any young player, you’re going to have games that aren’t going to look pretty,” Dawkins said Friday. “Same thing for me when I was young. Had games that did not look pretty early on. But a professional learns from his mistakes, and a good coach points out those things that he can get better at and then that professional takes that information that they lost with and they use it the next game or the next time to have success with. That’s what you will hopefully see from Jalen going forward.”

Eagles legend believes in Jalen Hurts

Brian Dawkins knows how it feels to be Jalen Hurts. At 23-years-old, Dawkins was a starter for the first time in his career and didn’t have a great first season. Nevertheless, no one gave up on him. Now, he’s telling Eagles fans to do the same with Hurts, who is coming off his first season as the starting quarterback. If anyone knows what Hurts is going through, it’s him. It took four years for Dawkins to make a Pro Bowl and six years to be named an all-pro. 

In his first year as an NFL starter, Hurts led the league in rushing and took his team to the playoffs. Of course, there were some ups and downs all season, but regardless, Dawkins had high praise for Hurts regarding his future with the team. 

“You have to let that young man grow because you see what he can do, you see the playmaking ability that he has, and you see that he can lead the team. So now you put some right tools around him and put him in positions to have success and then once he’s more comfortable in what he can do he’ll begin to do things outside, unscripted plays, and when you have those combinations together, I believe you’ll have something that you’ll be proud of for years to come.”

With all of the top available quarterbacks off the market, it appears the Eagles will stick with Jalen Hurts for at least one more year. The team will focus on the second wave of free agency and the draft coming up next month. The Eagles have not signed any new offensive talent, but have brought back Boston Scott and Greg Ward on a one-year deals. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we’ll see a veteran wide receiver presence in the locker room to put next to Devonta Smith.

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