The newest Eagles quarterback also said that he and Jalen Hurts have even worked with the same chess mentor.
The Philadelphia Eagles made a trade before the official start of free agency, sending Kenny Pickett to Cleveland and landing Dorian Thompson-Robinson in return. The young quarterback spoke to reporters in Philly on Thursday for the first time and recalled take a Top 30 visit with the Eagles during his draft process, and also talked about why he’s looking forward to working with Jalen Hurts.
Here’s what DTR had to say:
On his reaction to the trade
“Super excited.
Obviously, going to miss all the things I had down in Cleveland, in terms of teammates, my neighbors, and really just the relationships I built. Obviously, getting the call, it’s a shock and surprise to be able to get traded this early in my career, but I’m super excited.”
He went on to explain that he took a Top 30 visit to Philly ahead of the draft, and it was one of his top teams at the time.
“One of my favorite teams coming out of the draft process. I loved everything about my visit here — just the way it was ran. They put me through a press conference situation on the visit, to be able to get me prepared for whatever team I was on. So, I appreciated that.”
On his familiarity with Jalen Hurts and the QBs
Thompson-Robinson noted that he and Jalen Hurts have crossed paths a few times, and have even worked with the same chess mentor over the years. He quipped that he’ll have to ask Hurts a little about chess when he gets in the room, and see if he wants to play a game or two.
He also talked a little about Hurts’ reputation and what he’s looking forward to working with the Super Bowl MVP.
“I think everybody just raves about how professional he is, both on and off the field — especially at such a young age. Really, just getting to see that approach everyday. Again, support him and compete with him anyway I can, that’s only going to make me better, as well as the rest of the room.
But, yeah, I’ve been a fan admiring Jalen for quite some time now. I want to say his Alabama days, but it was really his Oklahoma days that really stuck with me, and that transition of his career and how he was able to prevail through that and those situations.”
DTR also added that’s known Tanner McKee for awhile — they were in the same QB class coming out of high school and played against each other in college when they were both in the PAC-12.
On how chess helps him with football
“So much of this position is about decision making, and so I really think that’s all that chess is — it’s just a board to make decisions on, and every decision means something. You have to be consistent in that. And so, I think that’s how it really helps playing quarter back, and really all positions, is just being able to take that same mentality and mindset into the game, and know that you gotta be locked in for a full four quarters.”
He went on to note that Chip Kelly was actually the one who introduced chess to him in 2018. At the time he was playing every day, but now he plays once or twice every other day.
“I am pretty good, though. I will say.”
Other notables
- The quarterback called playing for Chip Kelly at UCLA, “Amazing,” and called the former Eagles head coach one of his all-time favorites. DTR said that Kelly was one of the first guys to give him a chance and helped develop him into someone who could play in the NFL.
- DTR explained that there was a lot of turnover at the quarterback position his first couple of years in Cleveland, but he’s been able to learn things from each of the guys he’s played with, who he says all have different styles.
