Jalen Hurts ‘more confident’ than ever after Super Bowl MVP. What’s next for Eagles QB?

On the first day of training camp, Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame broadcaster Merrill Reese received green and white Air Jordan cleats from Jalen Hurts. On the toe of the cleats, Hurts wrote a message with his signature atop:

To M. Reese

You saw it when no one else could …

Love always.

The gesture was meaningful to Reese. It was also revealing of Hurts — somebody who’s ever aware, even when trying to remain above the fray.

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“Some people see it and some people don’t — simple as that,” Hurts told The Athletic. “And he’s one that saw it, saw it before I ever stepped on the field. And so to bring that to light and to feel that support from him and his enthusiasm as he calls our games, that’s stellar for me. That’s almost nostalgic. Because I know he’s called so many other greats before my time has come.”

Hurts won Super Bowl MVP in February. He’s appeared in two of the last three Super Bowls. He’s made the postseason every season as a starting quarterback. He finished second in the MVP voting in 2022. Yet Hurts debates have become almost a cottage industry. He was tied for No. 9 in The Athletic’s Mike Sando’s quarterback tier rankings, as voted upon by a panel of 50 NFL coaches and executives. His spot among quarterback rankings filled the airwaves this summer. Not everybody sees what Reese did. “I’m just focused on being the best I can be,” Hurts said with a smile when asked about the debate.

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Entering his sixth NFL season and his fifth as the Eagles’ starter, Hurts seemingly has nothing to prove and much he can prove at the same time. His resume is sterling. His reputation as a player continues to evolve. His intensity has not waned. Yet there’s an ease to him that’s been apparent to those around him. Hurts once appreciated the meme that depicted an emotionless face in four boxes labeled “Touchdown,” “Fumble,” “Interception” and “End of the World.”

There’s more emotion these days. Public smiles are more frequent. He exudes a confidence and conviction that is easy to detect — so much so that he agreed with a reporter who raised a question about it.

“Yeah. When you get a promotion, do you think you’re more confident?” Hurts asked. “You chase a dream, and everybody’s dream is to do that, and once you know you can, it brings a sense of assurance that you can. … It’s a matter of, if I’ve done it before, why couldn’t I do it again?”

Hurts can’t help but laugh at this reality: He’s adept at adjusting to new play callers. It’s become an annual rite of the offseason in Philadelphia. After Kellen Moore left to become the New Orleans Saints’ head coach, the Eagles promoted Kevin Patullo to offensive coordinator. Patullo is Hurts’ sixth play caller in six seasons. He had a different offensive coordinator every year in college, too.

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Most of the coaches moved to higher-ranking jobs. If the Eagles’ success continues, this trend won’t stop. That’s why the offense needs to be tailored to Hurts as much as Hurts must adjust to the offense. It will be Hurts’ offense on the field Thursday against the Dallas Cowboys. He’s grown comfortable expressing what he wants and how he wants it. That’s the result of the equity he’s established.

“Equity, that’s a great word,” Hurts said. “That comes with time, in anything. You sit there and you saturate yourself, and you grow and evolve as a person. That’s been a natural maturation for me. I’ve always spoken about how experience is the biggest teacher. I said that as a rookie. I said that since I was a rookie, when I didn’t have the experience as a pro quarterback. Now the experience has added up, and there’s still more to do and accomplish. It’s just about being a student. I’ve had all these coaches every single year, and I’ve been able to take from every single one.”

Patullo has worked closely with Hurts since 2021, although that does not necessarily foretell a smooth transition. In 2023, the Eagles promoted quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator, and the storyline was about how Johnson had known Hurts since he was a toddler at his father’s football practices. Johnson was dismissed after one season, and Nick Sirianni said the offense grew “stale.” But the difference this time might be Hurts two years later, with a Super Bowl ring in his home — he won’t say whether he’s even tried it on — and at a different stage of his career and life.

“That’s evolved, definitely,” Hurts said of his input with the offense. “And it helps when you win. And so I do feel a sense of intensity from Coach Kevin and Coach Nick; it’s something that’s great to see. I feel a bit encouraged and pushed to take the bull by the horns in terms of what we are and who we are offensively.”

The important part for Hurts — and maybe Eagles fans who scream to “run the ball” — is this admission: “It doesn’t matter how it looks to me.” The Eagles became a run-heavy offense in 2024 while Hurts attempted the fewest passes of his career as a starting quarterback, diminishing his counting stats relative to top quarterbacks.

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It brings to mind the eve of the Super Bowl, when Hurts spoke last among seven players who offered heartfelt speeches. In Hurts’ speech, he explained that the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss two years earlier “changed my life and it changed my mentality.”

“Because for so long, I was seeking: What would I do when I got this moment again? What would I do when this opportunity met me again, on the biggest stage — everybody watching,” Hurts said, as documented by team footage. “I didn’t get benched. I put on a good show. And I couldn’t have done that without you guys. But I left that (expletive) so empty. Don’t nothing else matters but winning.”

The reference was to the way he played in Super Bowl LVII, when he completed 27 of 38 pass attempts for 304 yards and one touchdown, along with 70 rushing yards and three touchdowns. It might have been the finest performance of his career. (He ranked No. 6 on Sando’s Quarterback Tiers then.) It also left him with an empty feeling. That game, as he told teammate Grant Calcaterra on the sideline in February’s Super Bowl, “changed my soul.”

What does it matter if you don’t win? That was at the core of how Hurts approached last season.

“I’ve gone a very long time being told I need to do it a certain way,” Hurts said this summer. “That didn’t get me a win when I did it the way everybody told me I needed to do it.”

The way Hurts sees it, whatever needs to be done to score one more point than the other team, he will do. When he was told for the first time that he won Super Bowl MVP, his immediate response was, “Super Bowl champ!” The next morning, he appeared at the Super Bowl MVP news conference. Hurts asked for a photo with the Lombardi Trophy — not only the MVP trophy. The distinction mattered.

The concept of selflessness has been a frequent topic in conversations between Sirianni and Hurts. It’s why Sirianni pushed back on the notion that Hurts is carried by his star-studded supporting cast rather than carrying the team.

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“I think that’s bull—-,” Sirianni said. “What I admire about him is his selflessness of doing anything we need to do to win, whether that’s throw — I mean, obviously, anybody who plays quarterback is going to want to throw it 50 times a game, but he will do anything. If he has to throw it 50 times a game, he’s ready to do that. If he has to hand it off 50 times a game, he’s ready to do that.”

As Hurts expressed last season, just because they don’t doesn’t mean they can’t. After Hurts threw for a season-low 108 yards last season in a Week 14 win over Carolina and star wide receiver A.J. Brown correctly identified “passing” as an issue, Hurts responded the following week against Pittsburgh by going 25 of 32 for 290 yards and two touchdowns. “So that’s what y’all wanted to see, huh?” he asked after the game.

The same was true in the postseason. With the Kansas City Chiefs determined to stymie Saquon Barkley in the Super Bowl, Hurts responded by going 17 of 22 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. It’s similar to how he explained winning the title: If you’ve done it before, why can’t you do it again?

That leads to this season. The offense will continue to evolve. Defenses spent the offseason studying the way the Eagles played, just as they did after the 2022 season. The way the Eagles win in 2025 might need to look different. It doesn’t mean Hurts will push to pass more — “My input and voice will not be a proponent to project in any area of the game,” he said — but even Barkley was curious how defenses will play the Eagles. There might need to be more of those “So that’s what y’all wanted to see, huh?” games.

“I think Jalen’s done a really good job of just kind of understanding everything now,” Patullo said. “He’s becoming a really complete player in the pass game. He puts a lot of work into it. Quarterback meetings have been tremendous as far as just understanding what the defense is doing and what we’re trying to do and how to attack them. And he takes a lot of pride in it, right? I mean, he really, over the years, has taken a lot of pride in not turning the ball over and completing balls, and understanding how to stay on schedule and keep us moving in the right direction.”

On the final day of training camp, Hurts heard a group of kids screaming his name from a distance. This could be anywhere he goes on any day at any time of year. It happens at training camp practices daily. This time, Hurts signaled for the kids. They sprinted past security and swarmed Hurts. It was a small gesture, but it was different from the usual routine for a quarterback.

“It’s a good time to do it. I heard them over there,” Hurts explained. “It definitely can be a lot at times, but being able to enjoy the moment — it’s all about the youth and giving them the sense of hope. I guess the ‘role model’ tag is what it is, but it’s a sense of responsibility.”

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Enjoy the moment? This was a quarterback unsatisfied when the Eagles were 6-0 in 2022 because of “the standard not being met.” In the waning minutes of the Super Bowl, teammates openly wondered if Hurts would finally smile. He once said the only win that would leave him satisfied is the last one.

He finally won the last one.

That provided the sense of confidence and ease that Hurts confessed to this summer — and that others have noticed.

Jalen Hurts’ teammates, like Saquon Barkley, said the quarterback has become more confident since winning the Super Bowl. (Chris Pedota / USA Today)

A few players close to him in the locker room aren’t shy about putting their name on it. Hurts always seemed like the most confident person in a room, yet the way he’s displaying it has been apparent to teammates.

“He’s definitely a lot more confident than any other year. And it’s not to knock on all the other years,” Jordan Mailata said. “You can feel who he is as our leader, but also in this offense. … He knows the offense. It’s actually beautiful to be a part of, because I feel like it’s not just him, though. It’s just like our role, too, really understanding, even just like QB depth in the pass reps, the timing of, how do we want to design the pocket? Just even those minute details, it gives confidence in us, it gives confidence in J.”

“One hundred percent,” Barkley said. “I don’t know if it’s just that I’m noticing that, because it’s my second year within the offense and with him, being on his team, but definitely. He was super confident before, don’t get me wrong. But just the way he’s dictating the huddle, leading the huddle. He’s always been a great leader, but we always have room for improvement. And I love that about him.”

The word “confidence” has been uttered frequently. Hurts stopped cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in the hallway and asked what’s different in his game in Year 2 — a subtle, intentional conversation from the starting quarterback to raise the eyebrows of a budding young player. Mitchell answered, “confidence.” When Hurts discussed Barkley’s second year with the Eagles, he noted that “after the year he had and the success he had, it only makes sense you’d have confidence.”

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“I’d give the same answer,” Hurts said when asked about himself.

The growth has extended to how Hurts operates during times the public does not witness. It can be hard for the starting quarterback to be one of the guys. Even if Hurts is a behind-the-scenes pool shark who can hustle deep reserves at the pool table in the players’ lounge, his role tends to require an insular existence. Add in his steely intensity and his status in the organization and marketplace — any interaction he has with somebody could be their most important of the day — and it could keep the quarterback separate from the team.

What Mailata has noticed this offseason is how Hurts is more “open.”

“He’s going to deny it either way. If I say he’s a lot more open this year … (Hurts would say), ‘What’s he smoking?’” Mailata said. “But he’s definitely been a lot more open.”

Little did Mailata know that it was a word Hurts used when discussing his burgeoning post-Super Bowl confidence — specific to how he’s still trying to learn and grow.

“There is definitely a sense of confidence,” Hurts said. “Those are things you want to feed off of and build off of. But you have to have a diligent approach to it daily. It’s not guaranteed. Nothing is promised. There’s a willingness to be open. … I want to continue to grow. That journey is still going.”

It’s been going for six years in Philadelphia. Some saw it at the beginning. Others saw it at the Super Bowl. And it might take more production — or maybe more winning — for everybody to see it.

After winning the Super Bowl, it’s harder to miss. Hurts is ready for you to see again.

(Top photo: Gus Stark / Getty Images)

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