June 20, 2025
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
There's a big difference in how Eagles fans and national media view Jalen Hurts, a Super Bowl MVP.
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:
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.
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."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."
Entering the 2025 NFL season, @FourVerts gives his top 10 QBs 👀 pic.twitter.com/aNytKuDo0v
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) June 19, 2025
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.
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.
2025 QB Countdown is complete. Here are the Top 10 rankings. The top tier especially might be the best we've ever had at one time in NFL history. pic.twitter.com/ZPaSLfxSsx
— Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) June 10, 2025
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.
The Athletic polled "50 coaches and executives" as part of its annual Rankings and Tiers series for all sports to come up with his tiers for NFL quarterbacks. Hurts appeared in a crowded "second tier" that placed Hurts with eight other QBs and tied for ninth overall with Texans QB C.J. Stroud. QBs ranked higher than Hurts in this tier: Jayden Daniels (6th), Justin Herbert (7th), and Jared Goff (8th).
The story's author, longtime NFL reporter Mike Sando, wrote that a Tier 2 quarterback "can carry his team sometimes but not as consistently," and that he can "handle pure-passing situations in doses and/or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game."
NFL analyst Steven Ruiz created his QB hierarchy by grading each QB by six attributes – accuracy, decision-making, arm talent, creativity, pocket presence and timing – with the heaviest emphasis on accuracy and decision-making. It appears that some advanced analytics might have also factored in, as the story also lists each QB's EPA/play (expected points added), success rate and CPOE (completion percentage over expectation).
His formula led to Hurts earning an 86.1 grade, the same exact score as Jordan Love and just .1 percent above Kyler Murray, but behind far less successful QBs such as No. 11 Jared Goff (87.5), No. 9 Geno Smith (89.9), No. 8 Dak Prescott (91.1), No. 7 C.J. Stroud (91.4) and No. 4 Justin Herbert (95.9).
Ruiz writes that Hurts' strengths are "deep-ball timing and touch" along with accuracy and his running acumen, while Hurts' weaknesses are "rarely" throwing with anticipation and lack of "challenging, tight-window passes." He also wrote about Hurts being the beneficiary of elite pass pro.
The question is: If Ruiz's grading system most heavily weighs accuracy and decision-making, why did Hurts only score 86.1 when those are two of his best attributes?
Longtime NFL Insider Albert Breer polled "dozens" of GMs, coaches and personnel executives to come up with his annual rankings. He wrote that a "Mount Rushmore" has developed featuring Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. (Common bond? Right, all are first-round picks).
He quotes on AFC exec as saying "there's definitely a gap" between the top four and all others. In his ranking, Jayden Daniels, Justin Herbert and Matthew Stafford – in that order – also come before Hurts, who moved up five sports from last year's ranking. Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff follow to round out the top 10.
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