Jalen Hurts is a Super Bowl champion, a Super Bowl MVP, has made two trips to the NFL's grandest stage, and overall has a winning percentage in the NFL of 70 percent. The Eagles have never missed the playoffs in Hurts' four seasons as their starting quarterback.
Jalen Hurts also last season passed for only 2,903 yards and threw just 18 touchdowns – becoming the first NFL QB in almost 20 years to win a Super Bowl with fewer than 3,000 passing yards and just 18 or fewer touchdowns.
Hurts is clearly a difficult quarterback to measure against his contemporaries, which has really come to light this offseason, as several national pundits and outlets who cover the NFL have ranked Hurts much lower than what we typically hear from Eagles fans.
Here's a list of some major sports media outlets that don't have Hurts high on their QB rankings:
ESPN: 9th
In their annual series ranking each position based on discussions with "league executives, coaches and scouts," the Worldwide Leader' survey had Hurts ranked ninth among all QBs, notably behind Jayden Daniels (5th), Justin Herbert (7th) and Jared Goff (8th).
An anonymous AFC executive in the story credited Hurts for being a better runner in 2024 than 2023 and for his play down the stretch but wants to see fewer turnovers and more throws from Hurts.
"He had a better year running the ball, and the way he played down the stretch when healthy was impressive," said an AFC executive who voted Hurts in the top five. "Better throwing the ball in general this year and cut out the turnovers."
Strange request to cut down on turnovers, as Hurts' 1..4 interception percentage was the second-lowest of his career and he only lost five fumbles despite a high sack rate and despite 150 carries. It just feeds into the school of thought that "football people" want to see Hurts throw the ball more to be viewed among the game's elite passers.
Yahoo! Sports: Not ranked (in top 10)
Their top-four is fine, but Geno Smith? Geno Smith? Never mind that it took him nine years to become a functional starter, but the guy actually had some decent playmaking talent around him in Seattle and only played in one postseason game – a blowout loss to the 49ers in the 2023 wild-card round.
CBS Sports: 7th
In his annual top 100, Pete Prisco ranked Hurts 52nd overall and as his seventh-best QB behind Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels and Justin Herbert.
At least he didn't put Geno Smith ahead of Hurts, but the national media's love for Herbert, who is 0-2 in the postseason to go along with a 52% completion rate and just two TDs compared to four INTs, is strange.
NBC Sports: 10th
Death, taxes and ... Chris Simms continuing his annual slighting of Jalen Hurts, which has become a late-spring ritual for the son of former Super Bowl MVP Phils Simms.
Chris has Hurts ranked 10th under the category "Truth Hurts," a title that sort of raises the question of whom it actually hurts more for – Jalen, a Super Bowl MVP, or Chris, who retired with a career 7-9 record and threw two INTs in his only playoff game with no TDs for a 56.7 passer rating.
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