We thought it was a joke at first. It wasn’t. The Philadelphia Eagles select Jalen Hurts with the 53rd-overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
If you called up any betting pool and stated Jalen Hurts would be the Philadelphia Eagles pick in the second round of 2020’s NFL Draft, you really need to move to Las Vegas and settle in at one of those casinos. Just think back to December 28th for a second. That was the date of the LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners game in the most recent College Football Playoff.
Many of us thought, after that one, that we had just gotten a taste of one of the future Eagles. Indeed we had, but we thought that we were talking about LSU’s Justin Jefferson. We now know that it was actually a preview of future Eagle Jalen Hurts that we were seeing.
Oh, and how did the game work out, you ask? Jefferson caught 14 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns. Hurts went 15 of 31 for 217 yards, and he threw a pick.
In the draft, the Eagles had a shot at both. They ignored Jefferson in Round 1 in favor of Jalen Reagor. You can argue that Reagor was taken too high, but that decision may work out. In Round 2, fans expecting to see the Eagles select Denzel Mims, the highly-touted wide receiver out of Baylor, instead had their hearts broken as Philly took a quarterback.
Let’s look at some reactions and get some expert analysis.