Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts has a fan in AEW’s Jim Ross

The City of Brotherly Love has wrestling in its blood.

From the legendary “blood and guts” promotion ECW, which still unofficially lends its name to the 2300 Arena on Swanson street, to spiritual successors like Chikara and Beyond who have made the city fixtures of their East Coast offerings, Philadelphia has a relationship with wrestling not too dissimilar to that of football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and even soccer, even though the Union technically plays their home games outside the city limits up in Chester.

And fortunately for fans, the city’s relationship isn’t a one-way street.

No, from Vinny Curry‘s very well documented love of Ric Flair to the WWE sending the Philadelphia Eagles a World Heavyweight Championship belt to celebrate their 2017 title run, and even noted Sixers fan Chuck Taylor – who routinely wears Philly jerseys on AEW’s Wednesday Night Dynamite – it’s not hard to find cross sports connections if you look hard enough.

So naturally, when a WWE Hall of Famer/AEW commentator comes out with glowing praise about the Philadelphia Eagles’ presumptive QB1, it’s only natural to expect us to cover it, right? I mean, have you seen our Twitter? It’s sort of our thing.

Jalen Hurts has JR bleeding Philadelphia Eagles green deep in Sooner country.

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Jim Ross is an Oklahoma Sooner through and through.

He grew up in the Sooner State, has been a fan of OU’s football program since the 1960s, and even uses the school’s fight song, “Boomer Sooner”, as his entrance music at live events.

So naturally, if you wanted to know a little something about Jalen Hurts‘ time playing for Lincoln Riley during his final collegiate season, good ole’ JR would be a pretty good person to ask.

Fortunately, the AP’s Rob Maaddi did just that – alongside fellow Oklahoma product Lane Johnson – on a recent episode of the “AP Pro Football Podcast” and believe you me, it’s worth a listen both for the football takes and to hear the WWE Hall of Famer’s sultry tone muse on about how Hurts is far from the Eagles’ biggest issue heading into 2021 – his words, not mine.

Now granted, is JR a bit of an Oklahoma homer? Oh, you’d best believe it, see the previous assertion that he literally comes out to the Sooners’ fight songs at live events, but he’s still, by his own admission, watched every snap Hurts has played for Lincoln Riley’s club and liked it quite a bit.

You see, Hurts is a winner who was named the team’s captain after only a few spring practices. He’s a classy, selfless leader who handled himself like a professional at the ripe old age of 21 and was beloved by both his teammates and coaches in Norman, which tracks based on what both Riley and Nick Saban said during the pre-draft process.

On the field, Ross liked what he saw too. He lauded Hurts’ size, speed, and athletic gifts and even went so far as to call the National Championship-winning quarterback a stud who is hard to get down in the open field.

Give Hurts some better pieces around him to help smooth out the transition and some time to get fully acclimated to his role as a starting quarterback, and by JR’s analysis, he should do incredibly well for both himself and the Philadelphia Eagles during his pivotal sophomore season.

But hey, don’t just take my word for it; check out a clip from the podcast below.

See what I mean? That voice is as bitingly smooth as “J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Sause“, which now comes in both original and hot varieties.

So what do you think? Does Jim Ross’ endorsement sway your opinion on Jalen Hurts’ prospects heading into the 2021 season, or does his fully acknowledged homerism keep your natural Philadelphia Eagles skepticism intact? Either way, it’s safe to say Philly’s new QB 1 has a fan deep in the heart of Jaguar country, where JR can be found calling Kenny Omega matches from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville on Wednesday nights.