Eagles camp has been a Jalen Hurts highlight reel the last few days. Monday was his best practice of the summer, multiple touchdown throws to DeVonta Smith and a rushing score mixed in. Wednesday he kept it going, dropping precision deep balls on Dontayvion Wicks. New offensive coordinator Sean Mannion has Hurts working from under center more, layering in misdirection and designed QB runs, and the results through two weeks look like an offense that trusts its quarterback again.
That trust matters because the roster around Hurts changed dramatically this offseason. Philadelphia sent A.J. Brown to New England on June 1 in a deal that netted a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth, reuniting Brown with Mike Vrabel. It was the kind of trade that usually tanks a quarterback's fantasy stock overnight, and for a while it did exactly that. Losing a receiver of Brown's caliber is supposed to be a death sentence for a passing offense.
Except Hurts doesn't need a true number-one target to be a top-tier fantasy quarterback, he never has. Wicks is emerging as the guy Mannion wants to feature, and Hurts is already praising his mindset in press availability, saying Wicks "got it" after another sharp camp session. Add in Smith still drawing designed touchdown looks and rookie Makai Lemon working himself into the slot rotation once his hamstring clears, and this receiver room has more juice than the post-trade panic suggested.
The fantasy market hasn't fully caught up. Hurts is going off the board as the sixth quarterback drafted, roughly pick 69 overall per FantasyPros ADP, sitting at the tail end of the sixth or seventh round depending on league size. That's a QB6 valuation for a player whose rushing floor alone has kept him inside the top five at the position for three straight years. He's being drafted within 15 picks of Drake Maye, Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels, and there's a real case he should be going ahead of at least one of them.
The injuries to watch aren't Hurts, they're around him. Smith and Lemon both sat out Tuesday and Wednesday with hamstring issues, nothing described as long-term, but worth tracking into the first preseason week starting Aug. 13. If Wicks keeps stacking good practices while Smith is limited, that's a signal to bump Wicks up breakout boards now, before it shows up in preseason box scores and everyone else notices.
There's also a quieter story at backup quarterback that matters for deep-league and dynasty rosters. Andy Dalton is outplaying Tanner McKee for the number-two job, while rookie Cole Payton flashed an impressive deep ball early before a rough two-interception stretch. None of that touches Hurts' 2026 outlook directly, but it's a reminder the Eagles have almost no margin for a Hurts injury this year if Dalton is the fallback plan.
For anyone drafting right now, the play is simple: don't let the Brown trade scare you off Hurts in Round 6 or 7. He's a designed-run, goal-line-vulture, rushing-floor quarterback playing behind arguably the best offensive line in football, and camp reports say the arm talent traveled just fine without his old number-one receiver. Rushing yards and touchdowns carried Hurts to fantasy relevance before Brown ever got to Philly, and they'll do it again.
Watch the preseason opener for early reads on how much Mannion trusts Wicks in real game reps, and keep an eye on Smith's hamstring through the next week of camp. If Smith needs time and Wicks keeps producing, Hurts' touchdown equity might actually be safer post-trade than it looks on paper, and his current ADP will feel like a steal by September.