Philly fans are expressing love for Jalen Hurts through various get-well cards: ‘Everybody has Jalen’s back and supports him’
A Jalen Hurts fan club brought a physical get well soon card to a game. Other fans are expressing their love through a Philadelphia mural.
In the middle of the crowd at Sunday’s Eagles-Panthers game, 27-year-old Brendan Petrilli held up a card that read “Get well soon Jalen.” Underneath were dozens of signatures and messages for the Eagles starting quarterback.
“I was kind of thinking of an idea like [It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia] when Mac wrote a letter to Chase Utley,” Petrilli said. “It was in the spirit of ‘Hey, Jalen, you’re going through a really tough time. I want you to know that there’s a lot of us that really support you and want you to be healthy and successful because he’s done so much for us as fans.’ And, you know, the city of Philadelphia, we really live and die with our teams, and he’s been such a huge part of that.”
Petrilli, a producer with 97.5 The Fanatic, is a co-founder of Club Hurts, a gathering for Jalen Hurts fans, along with Fanatic host Sean Brace. The club was founded in June as a way to support the quarterback.
“Our whole thing behind Club Hurts is ‘Rule 1: defend 1,’” Petrilli said. “And so it’s one of those situations where either people are putting him down on lists over the offseason or the Birds didn’t have a great game and it’s Jalen Hurts’ fault. So once he goes down with injury, it was a no-brainer to do this. This is something that we can put together and really show the support of the people in the club and Eagles fans in general.”
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The group held its first Club Hurts mixer the night before the Eagles-Panthers game at von C Brewing Co. in Norristown, and that’s where most fans signed the card. That continued into Sunday morning, when Petrilli walked around the tailgating parking lot asking for more signatures.
Eventually, Hurts’ photographer, Var Turner, known as @imvar on social media, reached out to Petrilli with a way to get the card to Hurts.
“He DM’d me Sunday morning and was just like, ‘Hey man, if you’re coming to the game, hit me up. I’ll try to meet up at halftime, and I’ll try to get Jalen the card,’ and that’s what happened,” Petrilli said.
Turner was on the field for Sunday’s game and spotted Petrilli in the crowd. He captured a photo of him and grabbed the card to deliver to the quarterback. Petrilli confirmed that Hurts got the card on the Marks & Salciunas show.
“Next day, got the text, ‘Jalen’s got the card and he’s very thankful,’” Petrilli said. “That’s what we do at Club Hurts. We bring people together, and we have QB1’s back.’
The card was delivered to Hurts before fans knew the extent of his injury. Now, with the quarterback likely missing the rest of the season after blood clots were found in his lungs, Petrilli hopes to continue to support the Super Bowl LIX MVP from the sideline.
“We should be counting out blessings a little bit that we’ve had a guy like this in our lives for the last five, six years,” Petrilli said. “He’s been consistently winning football games for us, let alone just being the great person that he is in the community here.
“Hopefully, he doesn’t really let this rub him the wrong way with the franchise, and he can keep being a part of the community here because he’s done so many great things. We want to keep helping those things that Jalen’s been pushing with his own charity aspects and just keep bringing the positivity that Jalen does in this city.”
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And Petrilli isn’t the only one coming up with creative ways to show the quarterback their support. A Philadelphia mural has turned into its own get-well card for Hurts.
The mural, which features paintings of Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Carter, and Lane Johnson, is slowly getting covered in messages from fans to the quarterback.
“I got to make my way down there and sign it,” Petrilli said. “That’s what it’s all about. Everybody just has Jalen’s back and supports him.”
