They sat on the steps of the Great Stair Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and talked about their histories as Eagles leaders and Black quarterbacks.
The Eagles made a surprise move after Hurts was drafted in 2020 by recalling a conversation they had with McNabb, who was 45 years old at the time.
I told them to listen. "'What you're getting is a grown man in the room. If you're not careful, he's going to take over.
Hurts was benched in favor of Tua Tagovailoa in the national championship game of the Alabama-Georgia game, one of a number of experiences that accelerated his maturity. In place of an injured Tagovailoa, Hurts led Alabama to an SEC championship victory against the same team that dethroned the Tide the previous year.
It took about a month to make this gathering. They flew in from Syracuse and Fort Lauderdale. The first two people to arrive were McNabb and Vick. About 20 minutes later, Hurts took a break from his preparation for the "Monday Night Football" game against the Washington Commanders to rest.
The three quarterbacks were locked in conversation for about half an hour after their discussion with the sports network.
As Hurts' journey was discussed in detail, the group became animated.
When Hurts led the team to victory in the SEC title game, McNabb thought he was going to Alabama.
"You've proved a lot of people wrong because a lot of people didn't think you could get to this point," he said. You're doing what you're told to do. We supported you from a distance. We will keep doing that. I can see what's possible. I won't say anything else.
The Eagles have the most storied legacy in the league when it comes to Black quarterback play, with over 360 combined starts between a group that includes Randall Cunningham (1985-95), Rodney Peete (1995-98), McNabb (1999-2009), Vick (2009-13) and Hurts (2020).
The next player was inspired by each player. When he was at Syracuse, McNabb used to go to watch Peete play for the Detroit Lions and admire how he would kill you.
Part of the reason he stayed at quarterback was because of McNabb, who was the most successful signal- caller in Eagles history. His resume includes a trip to the Super Bowl.
"That made me feel like the way I played, I never really had to change the way I played the game," he said. I was interested to see it work in the early 2000s.
Hurts said he likes to show highlights of three football players during his workouts.
He said he looked up to all of them as a child. It's hard to believe that we are in the same shoes. It's insane to me.
The players faced doubts and scrutiny. Some interpreted the criticism of him during his playing days as a sign that he wasn't serious about the game.
People don't want to waste time getting to know you because they don't want to be near you. They want to assume a lot about you. "If you don't look like them, you don't sound like them, or you don't play like them, there's nothing to be positive about them."
Hurts said he leaned on the players who have gone before him while suggesting that some of the doubt has been hard to shake.
Hurts said that they don't like to be woken up.
McNabb said that people don't want to have to break down what they've never done.
For those who want to be the analytical aspect of the coaches, you're proving that you can do it by glorifying the ability to play inside, outside and read the game. It becomes sustainable when they can't break that down, but at the end of the day, that's what makes you who you are. Maybe it's A.J. Brown. They don't want to give you the credit because it's too much for them to say that they were wrong.
While the former were outliers in how they played, Hurts is now the prototype.
The things that we've been able to do over the last 20 years is where the game is going. It's going to improve. It just don't get any better than that, the ones that paved the way before us opened up doors for me and everyone else. We'd be having this conversation right here, whoever thought that?
The focus was back to the task at hand when Hurts got the last word.
The quarterbacks in Philadelphia show their respect by giving me flowers. He said that he was not even doing anything yet. One day at a time, that's what I'm going to do. For any child out there, just keep going. That's what I did and that's what I keep doing.
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