Jalen Hurts is a Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl MVP.
But the jury remains out on where exactly Hurts stands in the echelon of NFL quarterback play.
Hurts’ hardware from leading the Philadelphia Eagles to their second Super Bowl title in February leaves him as a made NFL man. But his performance as a starter of four-plus seasons leaves plenty of detractors of his bona fides.
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Hurts doesn’t stack up with the top tier or even the second tier of NFL passers. And his success is more of a product of his elite supporting cast than his own abilities. So that argument goes.
Nick Sirianni: ‘That’s bulls***’
That’s not an argument that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is interested in entertaining. He lashed out at the case in candid comments recently made to local media that surfaced Monday.
“Yeah, that’s bulls***,” Sirianni said, per Reuben Franks of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Sirianni went on to characterize the criticism of Hurts as a media contrivance — something to fill air time in a broadcast environment with a lot of hours to fill.
“Anytime, I hear that, it’s cool, it’s like a nice debate thing that people like to have,” Sirianni continued. “And I get it, there’s a lot of hours that TV shows and radio stations have to fill to be able to fill that debate.
“I understand that, but we’re talking about the ultimate team game there is, and he does whatever he needs to do to win each and every game.”
That’s legitimate criticism of media from Sirianni. But it doesn’t directly address the criticism of Hurts, which isn’t without merit.
Criticism of Jalen Hurts’ game is valid. But this is what does — and should — matter to Nick Sirianni.
(Logan Bowles via Getty Images)
Is the criticism of Hurts warranted?
Hurts plays behind the league’s best offensive lines and has an elite group of playmakers at his disposal, most notably reigning Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley and three-time Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown.
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Philadelphia’s offense is balanced by an elite defense that allowed the fewest yards and the second-fewest points in the NFL last season. Hurts is set up for success like arguably no other quarterback in football.
Meanwhile, Hurts’ passing performance in the 2024 regular season didn’t exactly jump off the page. In 15 regular-season games last season, Hurts completed 68.7% of his passes for 2,903 total yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.
His passing touchdown total ranked 20th. His passing yards per game (193.5) ranked 26th. His quarterback rating of 103.7 ranked fifth and and his eight yards per attempt ranked fourth, raising his profile among his peers. But those are the numbers of a solid starter, not an All-Pro candidate.
Hurts’ rushing totals of 630 yards and — more notably — 14 touchdowns boosts his case as a difference-maker. Of course, the counter to that points back to his elite offensive line and the tush push that virtually guarantees a touchdown in short-yardage situations at the goal line.
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The counter to that counter is that Hurts’ mammoth legs and lower-body strength are integral to the success of the tush push. And so the debate goes.
Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon had Hurts ranked as the NFL’s seventh-best quarterback this offseason. Neither Charles McDonald nor Nate Tice ranked him in their top 10.
Sirianni: Mahomes, Brady also boosted by great teammates
Here’s what Sirianni has to say about criticism that Hurts’ success is a product of his surroundings:
“You name me a team that wins and wins consistently that doesn’t have good players around you,” Sirianni said. “Like, you name me a coach that doesn’t have good players around him that wins. Like, you don’t win with bad players, and it’s the same thing you don’t win with bad players as you’re a quarterback either.
“It’s a team game. Yeah, that always bothers me to be honest with you, when it’s talked about because it’s football.”
Sirianni went on to list a few of the certified all-time greats alongside a salient point. They weren’t playing with bums en route to their Super Bowl victories either.
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“One of the reasons I love football so much is that it takes everybody to accomplish your goals,” Sirianni continued. “Listen, you name great quarterbacks, you can go ahead and start naming great quarterbacks. I’ll tell you their great receivers and their great defense.
“You know? Whether it’s [Tom] Brady with [Rob] Gronkowski or Brady’s defenses, [Patrick] Mahomes with [Travis] Kelce, Steve Young with Jerry Rice. The list goes on and on and on.”
The counter to that, of course, is that Hurts’ track record as an elite performer doesn’t come close to those of Brady, Mahomes or Young. He just doesn’t consistently make the same kind of game-breaking and game-winning plays that they do or did. And his numbers don’t stack up.
None of this should matter to Sirianni. He’s the head coach of a Super Bowl championship team with a Super Bowl MVP at quarterback. And when the stakes were at their highest, there was nothing middling about Hurts’ game.
Hurts averaged 10 yards per attempt for 221 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in February’s Super Bowl romp over Kansas City. He added a game-high 72 rushing yards and another touchdown on the ground as the Chiefs steamrolled Mahomes and the Chiefs.
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That was a legit Super Bowl MVP performance in one of the most dominant Super Bowl wins in recent memory. And it’s the exact thing Sirianni should hang his hat on when talking about the quarterback of his team. There’s no upside for Sirianni to entertain arguments otherwise.
