Brian Dawkins Compares Eagles QB Jalen Hurts To Donovan McNabb

Jalen Hurts appears to be the quarterback of the future for the Eagles, and he has the approval of at least one Philadelphia legend.

In an interview with Heavy.com, Hall of Fame defensive back Brian Dawkins said that Hurts reminds him of former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Dawkins played for the Eagles from 1996-2008 and was a teammate of McNabb nearly all of that time. McNabb was known as an escape artist, always evading pressure when the pocket was collapsing.

"The ability to get out of harm’s way, the ability to maneuver, to move the pocket," Dawkins said. "Those are some of the things that you see both of those guys are able to do. I think Donovan had a stronger arm. Donovan had a cannon on him, so he had a stronger arm."

Along with his play, Dawkins said he is as impressed with Hurts' ability to overcome adversity. Dawkins pointed to Hurts losing his job to Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama and reinventing himself at Oklahoma.

"He knows how to pick himself up," Dawkins said. "He’s already had a lot of negativity in his young life and look at how he’s handled it, right? So that tells me that when things are rough, when things are not going well, he can be a calm in the midst of the locker room to help guys move in a better direction.

"He’s young, I’m not putting everything on him right now, but it seems like, everything seems to me, he’s already battle tested."

It's hard not to see the similarities between Hurts and McNabb. Despite Monday night's 41-21 loss against Dallas, Hurts played until the end and kept battling despite a non-existent run game and a couple of turnovers. After the game, Hurts took responsibility for the loss in an all-time great quote.

"You take you a deuce, you don't sit there and look at it," Hurts said. "You flush it and move on. We're gonna flush it and move on."