Jalen Hurts Camp Update — August 23: Five Picks in Two Days in Foxborough
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Jalen Hurts threw five interceptions across two joint practices with the Patriots, the new offense's first work against a defense that wasn't its own, then sat Saturday's preseason loss. The designed runs stayed in the plan all week. The passing produced its roughest stretch of the summer.
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Jalen Hurts threw five interceptions across two days of joint practice in Foxborough — three on Wednesday, two more on Thursday, both of those to Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones — in the new offense's first extended work against a defense that wasn't Philadelphia's own. Dave Zangaro at NBC Sports Philadelphia charted both days, and his notes carry the asterisks: one of Wednesday's picks went off Dontayvion Wicks' hands, another came on a miscommunication with Britain Covey. The week had opened in the same key at home, where Jeff McLane at the Philadelphia Inquirer watched Vic Fangio's first unit control Monday's session and called Michael Carter II's middle-of-the-field interception of Hurts the play of the day.
Thursday's full ledger was better than the count. Hurts threw red-zone touchdowns to Dallas Goedert and Wicks, hit Will Shipley on a 40-yard wheel route, and drove a clean two-minute drill, per Zangaro — and he kept the legs in the plan, running zone-read keepers and a draw up the middle for a chunk gain in the same session. Saturday brought nothing: no starters played in the 24 to 21 loss at New England, per Reuben Frank at NBC Sports Philadelphia, so Hurts has still not taken a preseason snap, and the receiver room around him stayed short-handed, with DeVonta Smith limited all week and Makai Lemon just back to limited work. Every interception this week was thrown to understudies' timing, which is context, not absolution.
Back in June we previewed Hurts around his rushing floor — seventh among quarterbacks in total production last season with roughly 30 percent of it on the ground and the goal-line role locked — while naming the new passing offense, minus the traded A.J. Brown, as the risk. This was the first week both halves showed up on the same field: the designed runs are alive in the install, and the passing risk finally has film.
The checkable things: whether Hurts takes any preseason snaps at all before rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, August 30, and whether Smith gets back to full team work so the timing stops being rehearsed with understudies. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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