As noted by Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was recently asked about the perception that quarterback Jalen Hurts is somewhat of a game manager rather than an elite player at the position and is lucky that the Eagles have a stellar offensive line and a superstar play-maker in running back Saquon Barkley.
Sirianni didn’t dance around the issue, as he referred to such Hurts narratives as “bull(expletive)” while addressing the matter.
“He plays the most important position in all sports,” Sirianni said while defending Hurts. “And it’s the most ultimate team game there is. And what I admire about him is his selflessness of doing anything we need to do to win. I mean, obviously, anybody who plays quarterback is going to want to throw it 50 times a game. But he’ll do anything. If he has to throw 50 times a game, he’s ready to do that. If he has to hand it off 50 times a game, he’s ready to do that.”
Per Pro Football Reference, Hurts finished the 2024 regular season ranked 10th in the NFL among qualified players with a 65.6 adjusted QBR, 26th with an average of 193.5 passing yards per game and tied for 20th with 18 passing touchdowns. The so-called “tush push merchant”
also contributed 14 rushing touchdowns over 15 contests.
That said, StatMuse shows Barkley led the league with 2,283 total yards from scrimmage for his first season with the Eagles. While some understandably viewed Barkley as the team’s overall Most Valuable Player, Hurts took home Super Bowl LIX MVP honors after he became the first quarterback since Joe Montana (1985) to record two-plus passing touchdowns, 50-plus rushing yards and a rushing score in a Super Bowl.
Despite that accomplishment, league executives, coaches and scouts surveyed by ESPN ahead of the start of training camp practices ranked Hurts as the ninth-best quarterback in the NFL. It sounds like Sirianni could have plenty to say about such opinions before September arrives.
“One of the reasons I love football so much is that it takes everybody to accomplish your goals,” Sirianni added. “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.”
The relationship between Sirianni and Hurts was reportedly somewhere between “still a work in progress” and “fractured” after the 2023 Eagles suffered an epic collapse. Those two now seem to be on the same page as Philadelphia prepares to start its title defense.
As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens tied as the betting favorites at +650 odds to win Super Bowl LX this coming February.
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