Derrick Gunn addresses his comments on Eagles QB Jalen Hurts

Nothing moves the needle like a conversation about starting quarterbacks in the National Football League. When that quarterback, Jalen Hurts in this case, plays in the City of Brotherly Love, the discussions become even more intense.

No one has to be reminded of the passion that exists within Philadelphia Eagles fans., and it doesn’t matter whether they live in Philly, anywhere else in the Delaware Valley, or in a small town thousands of miles away in a small suburb that most of us have never heard of. Bring up QB1’s name, and if you aren’t careful, that conversation can go on for hours.

Derrick Gunn addresses the reaction to the comments that he made about Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock or have been spending your time enjoying your summer and have no idea about where these statements are coming from, here’s what you missed.

Derrick Gunn made a comment about some information that was shared with him in reference to Jalen Hurts’ struggles during a seven-on-seven drill at Eagles OTAs back in May. We’ve all followed Gunner long enough to know that we’ve had no issue with him pulling info from unreliable sources or stating something when he didn’t know what he was talking about.

He’s been vocal in expressing that he wasn’t present at the session and that he was citing a source. Here’s where things went haywire. Even though he’s made those statements long before it drew the ire of much of Philly’s fan base (again, we’re discussing something from a May practice session), this had to have been the first time that some of Eagles Nation heard it.

Fans have gone back and forth. A.J. Brown and Lane Johnson defended their teammate and friend, as they should (even though the timeline would indicate that they probably weren’t present), and as you’d expect, Gunn appeared on Jakib Media to explain his statement.

He expressed his support for QB1. He expressed his desire to see Hurts do well. Truthfully, he’s always been supportive of QB1 while maintaining balance and honesty in any criticism he’s offered, but in terms of ‘walking back’ his comments as some have suggested, it’s probably not going to happen. Take a look for yourselves.

One day later, on 94 WIP-FM, Gunn spoke with Jon Marks and Ike Reese for about ten minutes or so. Again, he expressed his support for Jalen Hurts (nothing he’s said was malicious in nature). Again, he expressed that he’s never reported anything from unreliable sources, something that those of us who have followed him for two decades can attest to.

Here’s some of what was said:

"This was just one specific practice. Everybody has a bad day, no matter what you do in life.. The funny thing about this is, we talked about this on our show Sports Take back in early June and nobody said anything then. All of the sudden, we just brought it up again last Friday and Barrett [Brooks] confirmed it. He said he talked to someone who said the same thing, and people lost their minds. I’m looking at all of the comments on Twitter and they’re hilarious. Obviously, a lot of people didn’t go on vacation this summer."

Here’s more.

"This is just another in the line of talking to somebody I trust, I respect and it was just a one-day type thing. And people are like, ‘You don’t get sacked on 7-on-7!’ No, you don’t, but basically, coaches have a timer. If a quarterback doesn’t deliver the ball in a certain amount of time, they consider that a sack."

It’s hard to find real reasons to be angry when reading any of that. In an effort to make long stories shorter, here’s the moral of what’s been a story that is now longer than it needed to be.

Derrick Gunn loves the Birds just like the rest of us. He’s made a lot of money talking about them. He’s earned the trust of Eagles fans everywhere. And, we’re talking about practice folks. Practice… With that being said, we can stick a fork in this one and move on.