The jury is still out on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, but his teammate, wide receiver DeVonta Smith, has his QB's back. Smith defended Smith when asked about the doubts on Philly's signal-caller.

Via Josh Tolentino of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“He continues to come in every day knowing that people are going to talk about you, not everyone necessarily agrees with him being there as our starting quarterback,” Smith says. “But he tunes that noise out every day, and he constantly wants to make everyone around him better and make himself better. Like I can’t exaggerate how much he really wants to make us just go. Most people might shy away from that challenge.”

It's no surprise that Smith will go the extra mile of defending Hurts, considering that the two go way back. They were once college teammates in Alabama before Hurts transferred to Big 12 to be with the Oklahoma Sooners.

Hurts will look to strengthen his case as the true quarterback of the future for the Eagles, who made the playoffs last season but got thwarted in the Wild Card round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hurts has an entire offseason to work on his passing and chemistry with Smith and Philly's receivers after a 2021 campaign in which the Eagles were last in the NFL in pass play percentage.