NFL insider says “it’s not out there how good of a job [Jalen Hurts] has done to connect with his teammates”

Jalen Hurts’ relationship with A.J. Brown was certainly a subject of discussion last week due to THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA OUT TO GET THE TEAM unexpected comments from Brandon Graham on that matter.

But, as we know, the associated hullabaloo didn’t deter Hurts and Browns from having success working together. If anything, the noise seemingly only served to unite the team as they played well in a big win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NFL insider Jay Glazer spoke more on this situation in a recent appearance on The NFL On Fox Podcast:

“The drama was way bigger outside the building than inside the building. The first team meeting after Brandon Graham said what he said, Jalen and A.J. got up and were like ‘Man, we’re good. Just so everybody here knows, we’re fine.’ Dapped each other up like ‘we’re good.’

Then Brandon got up and he apologized for being a distraction. You know, Brandon’s a great dude. He just spoke out of turn there.

But I was told about it, it’s like, ‘this is going to galvanize [us], it’s going to make us [better]. Trust me, when this stuff happens, it turns us more to the right. We get to fight the world.’

And that’s who they are. Eagles football is bully football. The way they get after you on defense. And certainly this offensive line, man, they just beat you down, and beat you down, and beat you down.

Glazer also added this tidbit:

“The thing that nobody knows … this is a credit to Jalen: is in the bye week, Brandon Graham and Big Dom went to [Jalen’s] house and said ‘Hey man, we need you to kind of connect more with everybody here.’

As a quarterback you kind of get lost in that, there’s so much other stuff you’ve got to do. And he went out of his way. He met with the offensive line, connected. He met with [Nick] Sirianni several times, connected with him. Connected with like— he went out of his way, with Graham, with everybody to connect with them more. Said, okay, I know there’s more to the quarterback position than me just sitting here with the game plan and making sure I can throw here, throw there.

And they all credit him with doing a great job for it. And it’s just not out there how good of a job he’s done to connect with his teammates.”

The part about Sirianni was covered in a national story about how Hurts and his head coach bonded during the bye. But the Graham/Big Dom element is new information. Seems like their effort to nudge him was productive.

BGN previously wrote about how Hurts has evolved as a leader since last season. The following comes from an article published on July 5 earlier this year:

This offseason, Hurts has been omnipresent. He has been more demonstrative. He has been far, far more accessible. In the weight room, he has made it a point to work out with various position groups, in there encouraging Saquon Barkley, encouraging everyone. He’s showing up at teammate’s functions that he previously did not.

His teammates have noticed.

Last week on The Rich Eisen Show, Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson said Hurts has, “gone out of his way to connect with his teammates. Just this offseason, he’s really done a good job of bonding with his teammates. I feel like the connection has definitely grown. A really big offseason. The work ethic has never been an issue. Tremendous worker. But, just becoming a more vocal leader and, whenever he speaks, guys listen up.”

How Hurts performs on the field is what matters most. But always nice to see positive reports about the off-field element.