PHILADELPHIA — Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts turned a lot of fans into believers with his stellar performance in Sunday’s NFL Week 1 opener against the Atlanta Falcons.
Hurts’ jersey sales saw the largest one-day spike of any NFL player on Sunday with an increase of more than 500%, according to Fanatics, a leader for licensed sports merchandise. His green, No. 1 jersey is currently the No. 2 best-selling NFL product behind the jersey of New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, putting a pair of former Alabama Crimson Tide signal-callers at the top of the list.
Hurts sold more merchandise on Sunday alone than he did the previous six days combined after going 27-of-35 for 265 yards with three touchdowns in a 32-6 pounding of the Falcons, while adding 62 yards rushing.
“He’s the leader,” Eagles rookie wide receiver DeVonta Smith said. “When things go wrong, he’s the guy that’s picking everybody up. When things are right, he’s the one telling us, ‘Keep pushing.'”
Smith’s jersey is flying off the shelves as well. He enjoyed a 166% increase in merchandise sales from Saturday to Sunday. Smith, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and the Eagles’ first-round draft pick out of Alabama, scored on his first career reception and finished with six catches for 71 yards while leading all Eagles wide receivers in playing time with 58 snaps.
Smith’s jersey was the top-selling non-quarterback rookie jersey over the previous two days behind Jones and quarterback Trey Lance of the San Francisco 49ers.
This spring, the Eagles announced Hurts would be switching his jersey number from No. 2 (the number he wore his rookie season with the Eagles) to No. 1. Hurts wore No. 1 at Oklahoma after wearing No. 2 in high school and at Alabama.
The Eagles and Niners meet up Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox) in a matchup of 1-0 teams.