Eagles

Michael Irvin Tells a Long-Haired, Cowboy-Hat Wearing Alshon Jeffery that Jalen Hurts Deserves More Respect

By Matt Schultz

Published: Aug 21st, 2026 · 11:19 AM EDT

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The clip:

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A post shared by The White House with Michael Irvin (@michaelirvinpod)

“It blows my mind, the treatment they give Jalen Hurts in Philly right now. Jalen Hurts, I — I’ve heard people say that Jalen Hurts is, you know, ‘He’s on thin ice, he’s working on — ‘ I’m like, ‘This dude took you to the Super Bowl two of the last four years.’ What are we talking about? If you wrapped his accomplishments around Trevor Lawrence, they would be the happiest people in the world in Jacksonville. If you wrapped it around Joe Burrow, they’d be the happiest people in the world in Cincinnati. If you wrapped it around Josh Allen, they’d be the happiest people in the world in Buffalo. Why can’t they be the happiest people in the world in Philadelphia when this brother has gotten them to the Super Bowl two times in the last four years?

I’ll first quickly address Michael Irvin’s sports talk radio-ass point: This whole argument is a lame media-driven strawman. Irvin’s acting like all of Philadelphia thinks Jalen Hurts is ass and we’re trying to run him out of town, which isn’t true. In my experience, most informed Eagles fans’ opinions on Jalen Hurts are pretty balanced and fair. We give the guy credit for his accomplishments. Getting to two Super Bowls in four years is not nothing. But there’s room for nuance. We’re also justified in saying he’s largely an average to slightly-above-average NFL quarterback.

Let’s look at last season: Jalen Hurts’ 98.5 passer rating ranked 12th among qualified quarterbacks. He was tied for 9th in passing touchdowns (25), 16th in passing yards (3,224), 18th in yards per attempt (7.10), and 19th in completion percentage (64.8%). None of that is all that good.

He does other stuff well, of course. He can manage the offense without turning the ball over too much. Last season he ranked 6th in total touchdowns (33) and tied for 6th in fewest interceptions (6). He’s also elite at the tush push, which helped him rank 4th in rushing touchdowns (8), and he can really run when he’s healthy enough/feels like doing it, which landed him 6th in QB rushing yards (421).

But add all those numbers up and you don’t have an elite quarterback. He’s a fine QB who’s benefited immensely from having the best o-line in the NFL over the last five years and some of the best offensive weapons in football. Then, when you factor in the eye test — seeing Jalen pass up windows downfield because he’s too risk-averse and check the ball down over and over and refuse to run as much as he should and never line up under center and generally play a boring, non-explosive, watching-paint-dry-ass brand of football — it’s easy to understand why fans don’t treat him like royalty despite the Super Bowl appearances.

Plus he’s an annoying guy. He only speaks in Buddhist koans he sees on Instagram and he thinks that makes him seem wise. That’s a grating thing to do.

Now, with all that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the more important part of this Michael Irvin clip: Looks like Alshon Jeffery is doing a cowboy thing now. That’s what’s up:

For reference, here’s what he looked like just a couple years ago:

And this is him now:

Hell yeah. Big black cowboy hat. Extra-curled brim. Very long hair. Movie theater 3-D glasses he didn’t return to the big trashcan at the end of the movie like you’re supposed to. Sharpie-line mustache. Light denim jacket over a pinstriped shirt that’s buttoned all the way up. He’s put on a couple pounds to fill out the whole look.

This is good. This is rancher stuff. This is Yellowstone. Alshon Jeffery has a Paramount+ subscription. Nice. Glad to see it.

Kinkead: Alshon is looking like a combination of Marshawn Lynch and Alamo Brown from Euphoria. It’s a great look, honestly.