Crossing Broad
Jalen Hurts is as polarizing a quarterback you will see, through no fault of his own. His biggest critics will always point to the supporting cast being more of a driving force for his success than his own talent. While this falls a bit more on deaf ears with a Super Bowl ring on his finger and Super Bowl MVP to his name, these are conversations that will not be escaped.
There’s been plenty of attention paid to the NFL Top 100 player list and the summer-long countdown to #1. This is voted on exclusively by active players as a way to gauge how they view their peers. The Eagles have seen plenty of key members of the roster revealed already, with Jordan Mailata ranked 69th, Cooper DeJean ranked 60th, Quinyon Mitchell ranked 49th, Jalen Carter ranked 43rd, A.J. Brown ranked 29th, Zack Baun ranked 26th, and Lane Johnson ranked 23rd. Finally, it was revealed that Jalen Hurts is 19th overall:
For what’ it is ‘s worth, Hurts was ranked number three on this same list in 2023, and 15th last year. After winning the Super Bowl, outplaying Patrick Mahomes on the biggest stage, and walking away with Super Bowl MVP, he dropped to 19th.
What more do you want the guy to do?
They say the NFL is a results-based industry, but different standards seemingly apply to Hurts than any other quarterback. For the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and the other franchise quarterbacks, the goal is simply to win a Super Bowl this year. For Jalen Hurts, it’s win a Super Bowl but don’t hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley too much, don’t let the defense be too good, don’t be over-reliant on the top wide receivers, and lead the league in every notable passing statistic.
We live in an era where every play and stat is dissected and criticized at a greater rate than ever before. While there’s some value in the advanced metrics, there comes a certain point where we must just recognize what is happening right in front of us. The Eagles are 46-20 with Jalen Hurts as the starter throughout his career and 37-10 across the past three seasons. He also is 6-3 in his playoff career and his 69.7% active winning percentage trails only Mahomes, Jackson, and Jayden Daniels among active quarterbacks.
It’s also worth noting that Hurts defeated Daniels and the Commanders in both the Conference Championship and the regular season matchup he was healthy for last year. Hurts and the Eagles also took down Jackson and the Ravens 24-19 on the road. Mahomes is looked at as the gold standard of quarterback play and the inevitable hurdle that all quarterbacks must clear. Yet Hurts is the only player that has taken him down on the Super Bowl stage, and did so in dominant fashion just a few months ago. Even in the 2022 Super Bowl, Hurts...
