PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles offensive linemen and coaches did a white elephant gift exchange for the holiday season, and things got heated -- in a good way.
Some pretty nice -- and normal -- items were in the mix, like a Solo Stove, a kegerator, an iPad and a signed Dr. J card. Then, there was the gift guard Landon Dickerson brought: a flamethrower, which went home with second-year guard Cam Jurgens.
"I'm pretty fired up about it -- literally fired up about it," Jurgens said.
The premise of the game is that each person brings a wrapped item. The order of opening the gifts goes from youngest to oldest. Every person can steal someone else's gift a maximum of three times until every present has a suitor.
Jurgens kept having his chosen gifts stolen from him, so he went for the big one in the front of the room. He thought it was scuba gear at first. Then he saw the handle and realized what he had stumbled upon.
"It's huge," Jurgens said. "It's on a backpack. It's kind of like friggin' Ghostbusters."
Center Jason Kelce said on his "New Heights" podcast that it can shoot flames up to 150 feet.
"I was gonna steal it from him, and he was like, 'Dude, open my gift,' and it was the kegerator, so we were all happy in the end," Kelce said. "Plus, he's definitely coming over to our house to use the flamethrower. Just gotta have the [local] fire department, make sure they're nearby."
Jurgens lives on a farm back in Nebraska and figures he can make good use of it.
"We've got trees that fall all the time, so we get dead trees, put them into a pile, and burn them like a brush fire," he said. "I've got a good way to light it now."
Tackle Jordan Mailata addressed the elephant in the room following the gift exchange.
"The only thing he was worried about was, how was he going to get it back to Nebraska?" Mailata said. "I can't imagine that going on a plane anywhere."
