Mike Sielski: Come on, ESPN. Jalen Hurts is not the ninth-best QB in the NFL. He's the worst.
Published in Football
PHILADELPHIA — In a recent ESPN poll of coaches, executives and scouts, Jalen Hurts was ranked as the NFL’s ninth-best quarterback. It should go without saying that this result is so ridiculous that it calls the entire poll — and the acumen of all those supposed football experts — into question. Everyone knows that Hurts isn’t the ninth-best quarterback in the league.
He’s the worst quarterback in the league.
Here are the top 11 reasons he’s terrible:
1. Patrick Mahomes was the voters’ clear choice as the NFL’s top QB, and it’s impossible to argue with them. He has won three Super Bowls. He had 50 touchdown passes in his first full season as the Chiefs’ starter, back in 2018. And he obviously would have played better than Hurts in Super Bowl LIX if he hadn’t kept throwing the ball to Cooper DeJean and Zack Baun and reacted like a frightened kitten every time Josh Sweat got near him. Can’t blame him for that.
2. Joe Burrow did the “Light up a victory cigar after a big game” thing long before Hurts did it after Super Bowl LIX. A true pioneer. Also, two words: frosted tips. So fresh.
3. Everything Hurts does, Lamar Jackson does better. Except play well in the postseason. But that’s a minor matter.
4. Josh Allen has to play in Buffalo. That fact alone gives him an advantage over Hurts. Buffalo is cold and cursed. Buffalo has the Bills, who have never won a Super Bowl and haven’t reached one since they lost four in a row in the early 1990s. Buffalo has the Sabres, who have never won a Stanley Cup in their 55 years of existence and haven’t qualified for the playoffs in 13 years. Which makes them worse than the Flyers in both regards. Which is damn near impossible.
Buffalo has monstrous blizzards and subzero temperatures. Its most popular tourist attraction is a giant open spigot. Among its local population, the most common blood type is Frank’s Red Hot.
Do you understand how hard it is to play in Buffalo? Do you understand how hard it is to win in Buffalo? Do you understand how hard it is to get a gorgeous, famous singer/Academy Award-nominated actress to agree to marry you when she knows she’s going to have to live in Buffalo for part of the year?
5. During his four full seasons as the Eagles’ starter, Hurts has rushed for 2,779 yards and 52 touchdowns. By comparison, over that same span Allen has rushed for 2,580 yards and 40 touchdowns. Mahomes has rushed for 1,435 yards and eight touchdowns. Jackson has more yards but fewer touchdowns, just 14. Except, technically, none of Hurts’ yards and touchdowns count because the Tush Push makes people sad.
6. The Commanders’ Jayden Daniels was ranked fifth in the poll, after just one season in the league. Bear in mind, though, it was an awesome season, and everyone knows that having an awesome first season or two guarantees that a quarterback won’t regress and won’t encounter any bad luck and will continue to improve and be awesome for years to come. Just like Carson Wentz.
7. The Chargers’ Justin Herbert was ranked seventh in the poll, and while that might seem high for a quarterback who has reached the playoffs twice in five years, lost those two playoff games and played horribly in each of those playoff games, have you seen the film of Herbert? The strength of his arm … the rotation of his hips … nobody looks better throwing the ball to the other team in January.
8. True, Trevor Lawrence hasn’t had the career in Jacksonville that most people thought he would when the Jaguars drafted him No. 1 overall in 2021. But just you wait. In another five years, after the Jags cycle through a couple of more head coaches and offensive systems, he’ll be awesome. Plus ... whoa, the hair. It’s beautiful, flowing and lethal.
9. There’s no doubt that the poll’s voters took the depth and talent of the Eagles’ roster into account in their evaluation of Hurts. How good is he, really? How good does he have to be when he has Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, that offensive line, that defense, that coaching staff and that infrastructure around him?
Totally fair point. A truly great quarterback should prove that he can do more with less. Take Joe Montana, for instance. He won four Super Bowls and for a while was considered the greatest quarterback of all time, and he did it with Bill Walsh, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, Charles Haley, Fred Dean, Brent Jones, Wendell Tyler, Randy Cross and Tom Rathman. I mean, all those guys stunk.
10. Nick Foles didn’t just throw multiple touchdown passes in an Eagles Super Bowl victory — he caught one, too. Jalen Hurts, Philly Not So Special, am I right?
11. Look at Aaron Rodgers. A four-time MVP. A public-health expert. Always honest. Always forthright. Great relationships with his teammates. Never makes it about him. Always focused on football first and foremost. Doesn’t cause distractions. Hurts could learn a lot from him. Maybe he already has.
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