NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
How will Jalen Hurts be judged for the 2023-24 NFL season? Just a season removed from serious MVP consideration and leading his team to the Super Bowl, the microscope will be on Hurts like never before. What will he do? And when he does it, how will it be judged?
I ask that because Hurts doesn’t appear to be a 5000-yard passer. He may not throw for 40+ TDs and yet, he has a contract that many will expect him to live up to and to just what he may not want to do.
Jalen Hurts is Jalen Hurts and not Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or Joe Burrow. He’s exactly what the Philadelphia Eagles need but is that good enough for the masses?
Last season, Hurts passed for 3701 yards, 22 TDs, and 6 INTs while completing 66.5 percent of his passes in 15 games. Oh, let’s not forget to mention his 760 yards rushing and another 13 TDs on the ground. But then this offseason, the Eagles signed the QB to a massive 5-year $255M deal and everything he did before that, was thrown out the window. Is that fair? No, but this is life in the NFL and it’s the life of a starting QB.
But how should a QB be judged? Should it be the 5000 yards or wins? Yes, Mahomes put those numbers up and won a Super Bowl but that’s because he was forced to. The Chiefs had no ground game last season which put the onus on the arm and brain of Mahomes possibly more than any other star QB in the league. But Hurts is in a different ballpark. He’s aided by arguably the best offensive line and ground attack in the league, which means, there’s no need for him to pass for Mahomes-like numbers to be successful.
Will Jalen Hurts Decline After Huge Contract
But also take into account, that success for Jalen Hurts is not the numbers in the boxscore. The number he cares about are the ones in the Wins and Loss column. He wants team success above everything else. However, not everyone shares his sentiments.
With that large contract, Jalen Hurts must win MVP or have the most Passing Yards, TDs, and least INTs, or he will be dragged through the mud. He will be labeled overrated and Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles will be called foolish for giving a QB who was this close to being benched, such a large deal.
Yes, the microscope is on Hurts more than it is on any other star QB besides Jackson. But it’s a shame that if he doesn’t have those out-of-this-world numbers, there’s a good chance that some will think he didn’t live up to that contact, that somewhere, he took a step back in progress. But why is that?
Ask Drew Brees how it feels to always be atop the leaderboards in Yards and TDs, and yet, never challenge for a ring (he does have one in 20 years).
Jalen Hurts has the weapons around him to be successful but he wants that for the team more than he wants it for himself. And that right there, is why he can never be considered a failure. That’s the sign of a true leader and winner. Throw the stats out the window and focus on what matters most— team success.
If Hurts throws 25 INTs and yet, the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl with him under center, how will you judge him? Think about Dak Prescott in Dallas. He has great numbers and yet, the Cowboys have not sniffed a NFC Championship Game under him. The Baltimore Ravens have yet to make the Super Bowl with Jackson and Kyler Murray is making a ton of money and the Arizona Cardinals are one of the laughingstocks in the NFL.
Then you have a QB who was drafted to be a wildcat player and here he is, just a few seasons later, leading his team to 14 wins and a Super Bowl berth. But yet, he’s about to be ripped apart if he throws one less TD pass or one more INT than he did the previous season. That microscope for a QB is a B****.
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