June 06, 2023
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts throws during OTA drills Thursday at the NovaCare Complex.
It's that time of the NFL offseason: break out your pitchforks for NBC Sports' Chris Simms' quarterback rankings.
Rather controversially, Simms didn't rank Jalen Hurts as a top-40 quarterback entering the 2021 season. Hurts responded with an elite rushing campaign and led the Eagles to an unexpected playoff berth. Before the 2022 season, Simms ranked Hurts 25th behind the likes of Justin Fields, Baker Mayfield, Carson Wentz, Daniel Jones and Mac Jones, making Simms look foolish along the way. Hurts, of course, had an MVP-caliber campaign and nearly won the Super Bowl. That was a rough look for Simms.
Simms even doubled-down on his Hurts takes during the Eagles' great 2022 campaign back in December, saying, "There’s just no way he’s more valuable than [Patrick] Mahomes, [Josh] Allen or [Joe] Burrow, no way. If [Gardner] Minshew is in, the Eagles are still damn good. I’m sorry."
So, where does Simms have Hurts now? Only seventh, much to the chagrin of Eagles fans everywhere.
Trevor Lawrence (No. 6) and Lamar Jackson (No. 5) were ranked immediately ahead of him.
Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert haven't been ranked yet on his list, so we can assume those are his top-four quarterbacks in some order.
Mahomes is unquestionably the league's best QB. I can even understand having Allen and Burrow ahead of Hurts because of their longer track record of success. Herbert though? Get out of here. Social media QB.
We'll see if Hurts outplays his ranking yet again in 2023.
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