Dave Zangaro

Is Jalen Hurts still too low on Chris Simms' QB list?

Jalen Hurts cracked the top 10 on Chris Simms' QB list but he's still too low

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Jalen Hurts actually cracked the top 10 on Chris Simms’ quarterback list and he’s probably still too low.

A year after putting Hurts at No. 25 in his top 40 QB list and two years after leaving Hurts off it completely, the NBC Sports analyst has Hurts at No. 7 in 2023. Hurts is coming off an MVP runner-up campaign in his second full season as a starter.

Simms hasn’t yet revealed the top four on his list but here’s a look at what we know about the top 20:

20. Mac Jones
19. Kyler Murray
18. Derek Carr
17. Jared Goff
16. Ryan Tannehill
15. Geno Smith
14. Russell Wilson
13. Dak Prescott
12. Kirk Cousins
11. Daniel Jones
10. Matthew Stafford
9. Deshaun Watson
8. Aaron Rodgers
7. Jalen Hurts
6. Trevor Lawrence
5. Lamar Jackson

We don’t yet know the order for the top four but it’s pretty clear it’ll be some combination of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Justin Herbert.

Simms has previously admitted fault for not having Hurts in his top 40 a couple years ago but you can still make a very, very strong case that he’s still too low at No. 7 in 2023.

“Listen, I’m not a jerk,” Simms said. “I know I’ve said things and I’ve questioned him. I root for him. I hope he’s yelling at me right there. I hope he’s going, ‘Yeah, eat that s—, Simms. I’m No. 7 now. I proved you wrong!’ I’m all for that. I hope everybody knows that. I think when you start out with this guy right way, you just go, ‘The ultimate gamer.’ The ultimate gamer. He really is. I think you could argue he’s the best leader in the NFL right now. Right? Any position. Mahomes I think is right up there. He’s in that class to me, where he’s gone to that kind of guy. … Mahomes, even Joe Burrow. You ask me and I think I would be this group right there.”

Hurts last season led the Eagles to a 14-1 record in the regular season. He completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,701 yards with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He also ran for another 760 yards and 13 touchdowns.

And then on the biggest stage, Hurts was masterful in Super Bowl LVII. While he did have a costly fumble, Hurts threw for 304 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 70 yards and 3 more touchdowns.

While Simms praised Hurts for his decision-making, saying the Eagles’ QB seems to make the right decision on every play, he still doesn’t think Hurts is a finished product as a passer.

“There’s more meat on the bone,” Simms said. “There’s still a lot of throws when you watch him, you go … he misses throws. Now, they’re so good, like we talked about with Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson and some of these other instances we’ve had, they’re so good that the next play they run for 15 up the middle or somebody else is open over the middle and he hits it and we forget about it. So there’s a little bit more room for error there. And I’m not saying it as a negative. That’s just the facts of the matter there. And, yeah, he took advantage of a lot of it. But, yes, there is another level here that he can go in that department.”

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