Alex Smith on Aaron Rodgers’ Return & Jalen Hurts’ 2026 Expectation Level

Alex Smith has seen a lot of quarterbacks come and go, and when Rich asked him about Aaron Rodgers suiting up in Pennsylvania for minicamp, Smith did not flinch: "I love it, honestly."

The admiration runs deep. Smith and Rodgers were draft classmates, which means Smith has watched this particular career arc from closer than most. What strikes him is not the stats or the rings but the sheer willingness to keep showing up. "You want to talk about guts to go toe the line," Smith said on the show. He reached for Steph Curry and LeBron as the comparison, veteran greats fighting the same invisible opponent: "I really almost taking on two opponents, right? Not just these young guys they're playing, but really father time as well."

Smith was direct about what makes Rodgers worth watching one more time. "This is one of the all-time great quarterbacks of modern history," he said. "This is a guy that in a lot of ways has changed the game." He acknowledged the obvious, that it will look different from the peak years, but framed the whole thing as a gift. "We're going to get to watch him one more time."

The conversation shifted to Philadelphia, and Smith's read on the Eagles offense in 2026 was precise. A.J. Brown's departure to New England is a real loss. "This guy's a walking thousand yards every year, basically his entire NFL career," Smith said. "That will be missed from a production standpoint, no doubt."

But Smith sees a stylistic reset coming, one that echoes what worked before. "I think they're going to try to turn this back to a couple years ago when they won the Super Bowl," he said. More West Coast influence. More under-center work. A broader run game. "There'll be components that will look like the Rams and the Niners in that regard."

None of that erases Jalen Hurts as the engine. Smith pushed back on the noise around the Eagles quarterback, pointing to what the film actually shows. "This guy takes a lot of heat, but he does so much and can do so much, and he's so dependable." The mindset comment landed just as much as the skill set one. Smith credited both equally.

The Brown question remains open. "You couldn't guard him one-on-one," Smith said. "That was a win as a quarterback." Whether the Eagles can replace that specific kind of win before September is, as Smith put it, something they will all find out this fall.