Jalen Hurts’ half-billion dollar down payment on his future; A.J. Brown’s New England nightmare | NFL Week 1

If you assume Jalen Hurts’ next contract will pay him around $65 million per year, or $1 million more than Patrick Mahomes; and if you assume the Eagles will pay Hurts sooner than later, as they always do with their best players; and if you assume that Hurts, after a poor 2025 season, needs to show the Eagles that he’s worth the investment, then he made a strong opening statement Sunday afternoon.

Hurts threw three touchdown passes, connecting on 14 of 25 attempts. He ran for 46 yards, including a key, 22-yard, third-and-18 conversion in the fourth quarter. He threw no interceptions and had no fumbles. He did virtually everything he could to win the Eagles’ opener against the Commanders and, more importantly, he did virtually nothing to lose it. The Eagles won, 24-22.

» READ MORE: Hayes: Foolish Commanders mistake by Stefon Diggs gifts Eagles a season-opening win

Hurts threw for only 203 yards, but his passer rating of 122.2 was the 15th-best of his 94 regular-season starts.

He did all of this playing in a new system implemented by first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who has only been a coach — at any level — for two years.

If you ever considered Hurts a long-term, star-quality, franchise quarterback, this sort of game is why. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie considers Hurts just this.

There is a narrative that asserts that, if Hurts does not shine in this scheme, then the Eagles could trade him after this season and absorb the salary-cap burden associated with his current $255 million deal.

However, if Hurts strings together a dozen or so games like this in Mannion’s system this year, expect the 28-year-old to sign an extension to be the Eagles’ quarterback for the next seven or eight seasons.

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In his first game without A.J. Brown since becoming the undisputed starter, Hurts threw for 1.5 more yards than he averaged last season, threw for twice as many touchdowns as he averaged last season, and had a passer rating about 24 points higher than he had last season. Maybe he won’t miss A.J. as much as we thought.

Brown spent the last two seasons complaining about Hurts’ performance. His antics forced a trade to the Patriots on June 1. Be careful what you wish for.

In his New England debut Wednesday, Brown caught just three passes for 26 yards. His new quarterback, Drake Maye, threw three interceptions. The Pats lost, 13-10, in Seattle. Maye also underthrew Brown on a sure touchdown route.

» READ MORE: McLane: Jalen Hurts used his arm, legs and mind to beat the Commanders

Brown then suffered a high ankle sprain in the third quarter, left the game, and did not return. The Patriots placed him on injured reserve Friday, which will sideline him for at least four weeks, but reports Sunday said Brown, 29, will miss at least six weeks.

Nightmare.

At home on Sunday, the Eagles beat a potent Commanders team without its best player, Laremy Tunsil.

At home in three weeks, the Eagles face a potent Rams team without its best player, Miles Garrett.

» READ MORE: Murphy: This better not be the new normal for the Eagles offensive line

The Rams traded a raft of assets to Cleveland for Garrett, the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year, but he looked lousy Thursday night in Australia in a loss to the 49ers. He’d battled a left knee issue all preseason. He now is scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery and spend at least the next four weeks on IR.

The Rams are expected to have defensive tackle Aaron Donald available when they visit Philly. Donald, who, after two years off, un-retired late in the preseason in order to pair with Garrett, was deemed unfit to play in Australia and did not make the trip. The prospect of facing Donald is daunting, but the prospect of facing the two best defensive linemen of the past decade in the same game was positively chilling. Now, the Eagles won’t have to do that unless the teams meet in the playoffs.

» READ MORE: Sielski: The Eagles considered pushing Dallas Goedert out the door. He keeps showing why they didn’t.

Carson Wentz embraced his Ginger Jesus nickname when he was drafted in 2016 to save the Eagles franchise. Now a journeyman backup, Wentz relieved concussed Kyler Murray in the first quarter Sunday and led the Vikings to 29 straight points in a comeback win over the rival Packers. We might be witnessing a resurrection.

Wentz threw three touchdown passes with no interceptions or fumbles, completed 12 of 19 passes for 133 yards, including a gorgeous, 39-yard TD dime to Justin Jefferson.

Wentz finished with a 123.5 passer rating, the eighth-best rating in his 104 regular-season games.

Wentz played the first 68 of those games for the Eagles, who drafted him No. 2 overall in 2016 and immediately named him the starter. Wentz’s turbulent tenure ended after 2020, when his displeasure with the drafting of Jalen Hurts in the second round and his anger at being replaced by Hurts late in the season led him to force a trade to Indianapolis. He then played for five teams in the next five years. This is his second season with the Vikings, though he had to win the No. 2 job in a preseason battle with Vikings first-round bust J.J. McCarthy.

Was this Wentz’s best performance since he led the Colts to a win over the Jets on Nov. 4, 2021?

Can I get an “Amen”?

» READ MORE: Tom Brady’s evolution, Big Dom’s new endorsement, and the best of the Eagles-Commanders broadcast

Dallas ranked last in points allowed in 2025, at 30.1 per game. They’re on their way back to the bottom: They lost, 28-20, on Sunday Night Football in John Harbaugh’s head coaching debut with the Giants. … The Eagles might have a walkover win Sunday in Tennessee; the Titans lost, 23-10, to the woeful, visiting Jets. … On the other end of the spectrum, the Bears won their opener, 59-37, over the visiting Panthers on Sunday. Bears coach Ben Johnson told the Athletic in August, “I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever. … I want shutouts. I want blowouts.” The Eagles travel to Chicago in two weeks. Yikes. … Maybe it was all the extra cash he’s carrying: Baker Mayfield lost three fumbles in Tampa Bay’s 33-27 loss in Cincinnati just five days after he signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension. … Derrick Henry, 32, ran for 144 yards and three touchdowns as the Ravens won, 41-23, in Indianapolis. He has 56 100-yard games, which ranks eighth, and 125 rushing TDs, which ranks third.