August 12, 2026
Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Jalyx Hunt has developed faster than the Eagles could've hoped for, and might be on the verge of becoming a household name.
Every year, he's been one year ahead of schedule.
As a rookie, Eagles edge defender Jalyx Hunt was supposed to be a developmental project. By 2024's end, he was in the Super Bowl, part of an onslaught against Patrick Mahomes in a title route.
Last year, Hunt was expected to add more polish as he continued to grow and learn the position. He ended up becoming the first player in team history to lead the defense in sacks and interceptions.
This year, Hunt might just blow the lid off expectations, which have already risen for him compared to what they were three seasons ago when the Eagles had drafted him from a school nobody had heard of, after he played just two seasons on the edge following a transformation from an Ivy League safety.
Howie Roseman once wondered with anticipation what 2026 could look like for Hunt when he gambled a third-round pick to draft this extremely athletic but also extremely raw prospect from Houston Christian.
Now, everyone can see. The third year is here. Hunt has already helped the team win a ring and has already emerged into a vital force on the edge.
And this season could be the one when Hunt becomes more than just an upcoming prospect whose best days are way ahead.
Already off to another blazing start at training camp, even Hunt can see that his progression looks exactly as Roseman had hoped it would.
"It does. I'm constantly progressing, becoming more detail-oriented, not taking steps back," Hunt said Tuesday after another Eagles camp practice in South Philly. "That's the only thing I've expected of myself, is to continuously grow. So, yeah, it looks like it."
Did this all happen sooner than expected?
"It happened in the time period I thought it would," he said.
It comes at an ideal time, too, as newcomer and two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard has been delayed by a pectoral strain that landed him on PUP to start camp.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio recently put the kibosh on Greenard returning before the end of camp and suggested that the team's most accomplished sack merchant would be on a pitch count early in the season.
Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. have taken first-team reps at camp, and another step forward for Hunt could help ease any lessened impact from Greenard in the early going.
The Eagles will face Commanders QB Jayden Daniels in the season opener and two of last year's top offenses, the Rams and Bears, in the first month of the season.
Never one known for hyperbole, Fangio was crystal clear at the start of camp when asked if Hunt could make an even bigger jump in 2026.
"Yeah, I am looking for that," Fangio said. "He's very capable of it."
Hunt has been asked to play beyond his years since being thrown into Fangio's three-man edge rotation midway through his rookie year, when Brandon Graham's triceps tear and Bryce Huff's ineffectiveness threw Hunt into the thick of the edge rush alongside Smith and Josh Sweat, then landed Hunt in the Super Bowl.
With that and last year's breakout already under his belt, Hunt's confidence that he can emerge into something even greater has also grown.
"Exponentially," he said. "That's been the word around the building, low key. Exponentially – just constant growth, steady growth over time. Each day I'm stacking, because I am accomplishing goals. Each day I set a goal. What am I going to look like today? What do I want to do today? How will I approach it? What will I do to approach it?
"And when I accomplish it, it stacks, and stacks, and stacks. Accomplishing these small things each and every day has steadily been building my confidence, exponentially. We just don't want to take any steps back. So exponential growth is steady. Over time it's inevitable. It might go up and down, but the constant growth is increasing every time."
Now, Hunt finds himself in the rare position of following and leading.
In between the moments that Greenard has helped Hunt fine-tune his pass rush and master smaller details, Hunt has played mentor for rookie edge defender Josh Weru, an undrafted prospect from Kenya who joined the Eagles via the league's International Pathway Program.
A former rugby player with plus athleticism, Weru has never played a snap of actual football, let alone pro football. As he starts from scratch, Weru somewhat reminds Hunt of himself from years ago.
"He has really really accepted his role as the guy who doesn't know how to play football yet," Hunt said. "It's real cool to be able to explain things that I might have learned when I started out earlier to him because he's never been in situations to know what it is or what it's not supposed to look like or what you're not supposed to do."
The student has become the teacher, a sign that Hunt has fully grasped Fangio's defense and could be prepared for an ascent from encouraging prospect into a household name.
"It's my third year in the defense under Vic," Hunt said, "so certain questions I could answer for people who are just now getting here. I guess that is a leadership role. Sometimes I'm following and asking questions. I kind of move around. I'm in limbo. They say good leaders follow as well, so I guess I'll be in be in a leadership role if I need to."
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