Jalen Hurts Contract Looks Even Better After Brock Purdy’s Deal

When the Eagles signed Jalen Hurts to a new contract 2 years ago, they made him the highest-paid QB in the league. Some people scoffed at that. But Howie Roseman knew what he was doing.

Since Hurts signed the 5-year $255 million deal, 9 Qbs were paid more than him. The 49ers just made that 10, officially pushing Jalen Hurts outside of the top 10 highest-paid Qbs by AAV. Brock Purdy got his payday, scoring a 5-year $265 million deal. And it looks like he will likely make every penny of that because of how the guarantees are structured.

Is Jalen Hurts the best QB in the league? Maybe not. He is the 2nd most successful QB of the past 3 seasons, though. Based on what QBs get paid, they are not paying him to be the best QB. They are not even paying him to be one of the best QBs. He can be middle of the pack and earn his contract relative to other QBs. And we already know he is much better than middle of the pack.

If you go by counting stats, Hurts does not stick out. But the Eagles don't throw it much. That is not because they don't trust Hurts, any more than it is about them not trusting AJ Brown or Devonta Smith. It is about them just being able to run the ball on anybody. They had an RB break 2000 yards. Of course they kept handing it off.

You would think defenses would sell out to stop the run. They rarely did. Which tells you how much teams respect the Eagles passing game. But in the occasions they did sell out, Hurts stepped up.

The two glaring examples are the Steelers game and of course the Super Bowl. He threw a combined 4 TDs and over 500 yards in those two games. That is despite that starters coming off the field early in the Super Bowl, and them running out the last 10 minutes of the clock vs the Steelers.

You look deeper at the stats, it tells the story of a top NFL QB. Yes, the passing yards were low, but with 8 yards per attempt, he was 4th in the NFL. His Passer Rating (104.7) was 5th in the NFL. Hurts delivered in his limited attempts.

This is also the guy who outdueled Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl twice. The first time, his defense let him down. But the second time, he became only the 2nd active QB to beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. Something Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen repeatedly fail to do.

In a league with so many QBs unproven in the playoffs. The Eagles have a guy they know can handle the pressure. A guy who shines the brightest when the lights come on. And compared to other QBs, they have him at a discount.

Howie Roseman signed Jalen Hurts before other teams signed their man. It might have looked like an overpay at the time, but he understood that every new QB resets the market. So Howie set the market first, and watched every other team have to beat it. Just another reason the Eagles continue to be one of the leagues best run organization.