Jalen Hurts Is Building A Strong Case For MVP

Despite being one of the winningest QBs of the past 4 seasons, Jalen Hurts arm often does not get a tremdous amount of respect around the league. People praise his grit, mental game, and ability to rise to the occasion. But when it comes to throwing the ball, words like "limited" often get thrown around.

Why the disrespect? Because, despite all the winning, Hurts has never been one to stuff the passing stat sheet. But he might be on a mission to change that narrative.

Hurts heads into the bye week on the heels of a 4 TD performance. He had just 5 incompletions to go with those 4 TDs. In the last 2 games, he now has 7 passing TDs and no interceptions. On the season, he has 20 total TDs (15 passing and 5 rushing) to just 1 interception. With more games to be played this week, Hurts finds himself with the 3rd most passing TDs in the league as of writing this article.

So is this the start of a new trend? After the game, when Hurts was asked about the Eagles' recent success, he told the media, "I think the best is yet to come."

Again, if you were to only look at Hurts' passing stats over his career, you would not come away too impressed. But a deeper dive tells the story of an efficent QB, who maybe just does not get the chance to show off his skills.

For example, last season Hurts was 26th in the NFL in pass attempts over 20 yards. But despite those limited chances, he was still tied for the 4th most TDs on such passes. He also finished with the 6th-best QB rating on deep throws. Plus, Hurts was 22nd in total pass attempts, 20th in passing yards, but 4th in yards per attempt.

For most of last season, the Eagles relied on a prolific rushing attack. Saquon Barkley nearly broke the All-Time record for rushing yards. But on the occasions where teams forced the Eagles to throw, Hurts and the passing attack stepped up.

Notable examples include the Steelers, where Hurts threw for 290 yards and 2 TDs, and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, where he finished with 221 yards and 2 TDs. He left both of those games early after helping his team get out to a substantial lead.

Go back to 2022 and Hurts was an MVP favorite before he missed 2 games and fell behind Patrick Mahomes in the MVP race. The next year, he was once again the MVP favorite after 12 weeks once he led the Eagles to a big win over the Bills. The Eagles season went downhill from there, but the point is, Hurts had himself in that elite conversation.

Now he is making a case for himself again. Of all the QBs with at least 10 passing TDs, he and Lamar Jackson are the only ones to have only 1 interception. Jackson has played 4 games, Hurts has played 8. He is the only QB with 15 passing TDs and only 1 interception. Hurts also leads all QBs with 20 total TDs.

Hurts has the Eagles, whose running game struggled before the latest win, at the top of the NFC Standings with a 6-2 record. He led the Eagles to wins over the Chiefs, Rams, and Bucs, all serious contenders this year.

The case is there. You can argue that through 8 weeks, it is the strongest case in the NFL. Does that mean he will win it? No. At this point last year, you might have called Lamar Jackson a lock, and it was Josh Allen who eventually took home the hardware. How each of these players plays over the next 10 weeks is far more important than how they played in the first 8.

But the point is, Hurts is in that conversation and deserves to be there. Outside of the first Giants game, which was a struggle for the whole team, Hurts has been the Eagles' best player. It will be hard for anyone to argue that he gets carried by his roster if he keeps this play up. And he just might earn himself some personal hardware to go along with that Lombardi Trophy.