Eagles 2025 Most Important List: Jalyx Hunt

Eagles 2025 most important list: Jalyx Hunt originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Over the next few weeks leading up to training camp, we’ll be counting down the top 25 most important Eagles for the 2025 season.

25. Andrew Mukuba
24. Jahan Dotson
23. Tanner McKee
22. Tyler Steen
21. Azeez Ojulari
20. Moro Ojomo
19. Kelee Ringo
18. Jihaad Campbell
17. Jalyx Hunt

It would have been reasonable to expect edge rusher Jalyx Hunt to have a redshirt season as a rookie. After all, he was a late third-round draft pick from Houston Christian and he was playing safety at Cornell just a few years ago.

But by the Super Bowl, Hunt was a huge part of Vic Fangio’s defense.

Hunt, as a rookie third-round pick, went from being a healthy scratch in Week 1 down in São Paulo to being a disruptive force in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win. And he has just scratched the surface.

“I think we’ll feel good about Jalyx now that he’s going to get a lot of reps and develop,” Fangio said this spring. “He played good for us down the stretch last year and played a lot.”

During the 2024 regular season, Hunt played in 16 games and had just 1 1/2 sacks. But in four playoff games, he had another 1 1/2 sacks. He had just 9 pressures in the regular season (7.4% pressure rate) but had 8 (12.9%) in the playoffs.

Hunt’s pressure rate in the playoffs was higher than that of Nolan Smith and Josh Sweat.

And now the Eagles are hoping the 24-year-old edge rusher takes another big step forward in Year 2. After the departure of Sweat in free agency and after the retirement of Graham, they’re going to need Hunt to play a bigger role. He projects as a starter opposite Smith.

During the spring, Hunt was feeling way more comfortable in Year 2.

“This offseason I just know a lot more of what is expected of me and what to expect from tackles and different players across the league,” Hunt said. “I just know a lot more and I’ve been able to approach my game in a more professional way by figuring out what moves I want to work on, who I should watch, what I should watch.

“Being a lot more technical because that’s the biggest difference I’ve seen is that players who are elite and good, your technicality levels are on completely different levels. If I want to be great at this position and in this league, I gotta be technical. That’s what I’ve really been focusing on and that’s what I think has really changed between last year and this year.”