Is Jalen Hurts a Franchise Quarterback? (11/24/21)
The Eagles got off to a very rocky start to the season. The team had a 2–5 record, both the offense and defense looked lethargic, and the fans were calling for Nick Sirianni’s head.
Then all of the sudden, everything changed from there on out. The coaches improved their play-calling, the players started performing better, and all that has cultivated in the team winning three of their last four games to improve to a record of 5–6 with now a realistic shot at the wild card.
The biggest factor to the Eagles hot play as of late has been the arrival of Jalen Hurts.
Nick Sirianni has adjusted his play-calling that cater to Hurts’ strengths, and that has drastically improved his play.
The recent play-calling has been the result of Hurts being able to use his legs and run the ball.
Hurts is the team’s leading rusher, and he has compiled the 9th most rushing yards out of all NFL players with 618. Only one other quarterback has compiled more rushing yards than Hurts, that being Lamar Jackson.
Through their first fifteen career starts, Hurts stats compared with Jackson’s are very similar, if not better.
Lamar Jackson:
4,120 total offensive yards
26 touchdowns
12 turnovers
213 first downs
Jalen Hurts:
4,115 total offensive yards
29 touchdowns
11 turnovers
209 first downs
If Hurts continues to play well, then he will join Jackson as the only other quarterback in NFL history to amass 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a single season. Don’t forget that Lamar took home the MVP award in 2019, so for Hurts to have similar stats to him is pretty impressive.
Over the last five weeks of the season, no other quarterback has a higher QBR (Quarterback Rating) than Hurts.
Besides Hurts, no quarterback in Eagles history has rushed for three touchdowns in one game, and the franchise has a great history when it comes to elite running quarterbacks in Randall Cunningham and Micheal Vick.
Jalen has arguably been the NFL’s best quarterback in the red zone. No other quarterback has more rushing touchdowns than he does, and the second closest is Ryan Tannehill who has five.
While Hurts’ passing remains a work-in-progress, we can’t deny the fact that he has improved as a passer compared to a year ago.
His passing numbers have improved all throughout. His completion percentage, QBR, and touchdown-interception ratio have all looked better compared to when he was a rookie.
To see the growth and development of Hurts is a very promising sign for the franchise, and it should give the front office a pretty good excuse not to draft or trade for a new single caller for seasons to come.
