Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, Darius Slay Added To Pro Bowl, A.J. Brown Won't Play

The addition of Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay, coupled with A.J. Brown pulling out of game, gives the Philadelphia Eagles seven players who will participate in the games this weekend

They’d rather be in Las Vegas getting ready for Super Bowl LVIII, especially after being there last year. Instead, will be far away in Orlando getting ready to play in the Pro Bowl, or what passes for the Pro Bowl these days.

Two Philadelphia Eagles were added to the NFC roster on Tuesday when quarterback Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay were elevated from first alternate status to participants because the San Francisco 49ers are in the Super Bowl, meaning Niners QB Brock Purdy and cornerback Charvarius Ward won’t be able to play in the Pro Bowl.

In addition to Hurts and Slay, the Eagles will also be represented by right tackle Lane Johnson, center Jason Kelce, left guard Landon Dickerson, running back D’Andre Swift, and edge rusher Haason Reddick.

Jalen Hurts / © Nathan Ray Seebeck, USA TODAY

Johnson and Kelce were voted in as starters while the others were reserves.

Receiver A.J Brown was supposed to be in the game but he pulled himself out on Tuesday, citing injury, which is presumed to be the knee injury he suffered in the Eagles’ regular-season finale and forced him to miss Philly’s wild-card playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This will be Hurts’ second Pro Bowl. He was voted in last year but missed the game because he and his teammates made the Super Bowl.

In 17 games this year, Hurts completed 65.4 percent of his passes for 3,858 yards and a career-high 23 touchdowns. He added 15 rushing scores to set a new NFL for most running touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season. Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen also finished with 15.

As for Slay, this will be his sixth Pro Bowl and fourth with the Eagles.

How much he does in Florida remains to be seen. Slay injured his back against the Bucs and had to be carted off.

On the Eagles’ locker room clean-out day, Slay said he escaped a more serious injury but that he would probably need at least three weeks of rest before beginning any offseason workouts.

The Pro Bowl game isn’t using the same format as previous years in which the games resembled more of two-hand touch football.

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This will be the second year that the event consists of a skills competition and non-contact flag football rather than an actual tackle football game.

The first block of skills competitions are scheduled for Thursday while the flag football game and other events are scheduled for Sunday.