With the NFL regular season set to kick off Thursday night, it feels like the only thing the sports world is talking about is football - and in particular, the quarterbacks. I've seen an abnormally high number of QB rankings roll out in the past couple weeks. Much like embracing debate, QB ranking is a classic fall back sports topic gold mine and it appears every outlet is leaning on the tried-and-true ahead of Week 1. Don't knock the hustle, I suppose.
With everyone talking QBs and the Eagles entering an extremely important for their third-year signal caller in Jalen Hurts, I figured it wouldn't hurt to peruse the best of these rankings and see where they have Hurts compared to the rest of his peers at the position.
MORE: NFL power rankings: The Eagles hype train is rolling
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SIGN UP HERE Heading into last season it felt like Hurts was a huge question mark near the bottom of the starting QB field. Is that still true? Let's see what the "experts" say:
The Ringer
21. Jalen Hurts
"We’re in year three with Jalen Hurts and I’m still not ready to make any grand declarations on what he could be. The development we’ve seen from his time at Alabama up until now has been impressive, but he still has a long way to go before establishing himself as a good starting quarterback. For now, though, Hurts is certainly a useful one. He is a legitimate threat as a runner, which elevates the Eagles run game, and he can hit on deep throws to the perimeter. That’s a nice foundation for an NFL offense! Now, if Hurts can just start reading out basic pass concepts and hitting deep crossers off play-action, Philadelphia might have something.
NFL
"Hurts already seems to have a good grasp on the offense. The Eagles gave him some pre-snap responsibilities during his second season, allowing him to check in and out of runs, and he pulled the right strings for the most part. As things stand, Hurts is an asset on his cheap rookie deal, but he’ll need to take another step forward as a passer if he’s going to earn a big second contract."
NFL.com
15. Jalen Hurts
"In his first season as head coach, Nick Sirianni employed creative flexibility to flip his offense into a run-heavy juggernaut following a 2-5 start. The shift made the most of Hurts on the ground, morphing the second-year starter into football's leading rusher (784 yards) from under center. What Hurts can do with his legs has Fantasy Heads salivating over his floor, but he also grew as a passer. More development is needed, but Hurts finds himself in a plus environment. The Eagles boast the NFL’s top offensive line and a mouth-watering gang of pass-catchers after acquiring Tannehill’s old pal, A.J. Brown, to pair alongside DeVonta Smith. Nobody saw this coming six months ago, but the concern for Hurts is helping Philly live up to the bubbling hype as a suddenly popular Super Bowl pick."
CBS Sports
15. Jalen Hurts
"The Eagles have given him all the pieces to emerge as the "guy." Now it's a matter of consistently winning through the air, even if primarily in the short area. At the very least, Hurts' running-back build and vision give him a high floor as a play-extender."
Sporting News
15. Jalen Hurts
"Hurts still has plenty of room to grow as a passer and needs to do it soon for him to get complete trust as Philadelphia's now and future franchise QB. The Eagles should get back to opening up the passing game with new top wideout A.J. Brown after leaning heavily on the run last season. Hurts' big year in that latter capacity was key in leading them to the playoffs."
FiveThirtyEight
15. Jalen Hurts
(No narrative explanation provided, just some numbers and stuff.)
Soooo... that's a lot of 15s! Other than The Ringer everyone has Hurts at No. 15 in the league, just barely above an average starter in a league with 32 starting quarterbacks.
I think, other than The Ringer's No. 21 (which has good analysis of Hurts' game but bizarrely puts him behind Marcus Mariota and Mac Jones), these are about right.
Hurts showed last year that he's a dynamic weapon on offense with the ball in his hands, a dual threat who doesn't leap off the page when he's moving but who is able to navigate the field well and can unleash a few head-turning plays every game. He needs to work on his decision-making and his reading of defenses when standing in the pocket, but I think he has all the tools to be a Top 12 QB, which is always the goal.
And with how loaded the Eagles are at basically every position, Hurts being the 15th-best quarterback in the league is plenty good enough for the Birds to reach the playoffs (maybe even win the division) and see what happens once they get there.
If they're going to reach the lofty heights that some are projecting, however, Hurts will have to be better than 15th in the NFL. We'll see if he can.