Jalen Hurts Left Out Of Top 10 QBs In Poll Of NFL Execs
A year ago, Jalen Hurts was ranked amongst the best QBs in the league. A 1-7 stretch, including an embarrassing playoff exit, can change a lot though. ESPN recently polled a group of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, and had them rank 11 different positions into a top 10. The QB one recently came out, and there was a notable omission, Jalen Hurts.
The Eagles QB came in 6th last season after his MVP-worthy campaign that had the Eagles in the Super Bowl. His down year last season though, which saw him rank near the top of the league in turnovers, pushed him outside of the top 10, and into the honorable mentions.
Why Did Jalen Hurts Fall Outside The Top 10?
Jeremy Fowler, who was the main architect behind the survey, joined Get Up and tried to explain the big fall for Jalen Hurts.
“The Eagles can downplay whatever knee issues he was dealing with in-season… but they felt like he just wasn’t moving the same, couldn’t do that dual-threat ability that he’s so good at with the offense. And then Nick Sirianni’s attack with Philly last year was just not very good. They were in a situation where they kind of rolled the ball out, tried to do what they did the year before, teams adjusted, the Eagles didn’t evolve, and so Hurts was in a position where he wasn’t highlighted.”
-Jeremy Fowler on ESPN’s Get Up
The injury part should be clear to whoever watched him last season. He did not have the same mobility he had in 2022. he still was deadly on the Tush Push, but the read Option was nowhere near as effective because he was not the same threat to run. Hurts just lacked the burst that made him so deadly on those plays in 2022.
But as Fowler also mentioned, the problem went beyond even that. That offense he was running, was very stale. Nick Sirianni put his QB in a bad position. Case in point is the lack of a plan against the blitz. Teams would blitz like crazy, but Sirianni’s offense kept calling for these long-developing plays that are obviously not blitz-beaters.
There weren’t enough quick dump-offs or plays over the middle of the field. The Eagles WRs, despite being among the most talented in the league, ranked near the bottom of the league in average separation per route. That was coaching.
While other teams schemed their WRs open, the Eagles relied far too much on their talent beating the other teams’ talent. It sometimes worked because the Eagles’ offense had a lot of talent. But there are a lot of talented defenses too. Sometimes great players need help from the scheme, and they just did not get it last year.
That doesn’t take Jalen Hurts off the hook. he had his own issues last year, and regressed in areas, often being too quick to bail out of the pocket, or not being fast enough to move off his first read. But Sirianni did not help him when he struggled.
Justin Herbert gets the benefit of the doubt due to bad coaching. It seems Jalen Hurts does not get that same treatment.
Is It A Fair Ranking For Jalen Hurts?
For me, it reeks of recency bias. There are QBs above him that have yet to do anything noteworthy in the NFL. Jalen Hurts struggled last year, but he is still better than Jared Goff and Dak Prescott. We have seen Prescott put up impressive numbers in the regular season just to fold in the playoffs too many times now for us to still say he is the better QB.
Hurts has a lot to prove. The actual analysis of Hurts in the piece makes sense. We will see what he looks like this year when hopefully healthier, and with Kellen Moore running the offense instead of Nick Sirianni.
What gets me is the bias behind leaving him out. Several people surveyed told Fowler that Hurts will never be a top 5 QB, despite the fact we saw him be the 2nd best QB in the NFL in 2022.
Is he coming off a down year? Sure. Did he deserve to fall down the rankings a bit? Yes. But the statement that he can’t be in that top class is ridiculous. We saw Hurts go toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, and arguably play better. Hurts was fantastic in that Super Bowl and over that entire season.
What other QBs in the NFL can we say performed like that in the Super Bowl? Brock Purdy was fine in his 1st Super Bowl appearance. He is not why they lost, but he also did nothing special to help them win. Jared Goff was a complete non-factor the 1 time he made the Super Bowl. Justin Herbert still has yet to make an impact in the playoffs. Playoff struggles have plagued Lamar Jackson.
Jalen Hurts has gotten there and played out of his mind. That should be worth something. But it is clear that because he doesn’t fit the perfect mold of an NFL QB, certain people around the NFL will never give him credit. It is on Hurts to step up and prove them wrong this year.
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