After the Eagles clinched the playoffs on Sunday night, Nick Sirianni was asked about the criticism he faced this season and if he managed to block it out successfully.
Before the 2021 season, NBC Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms released his top 40 quarterbacks list with one notable omission.
Jalen Hurts wasn’t on there.
But you know who was? Taysom Hill, Drew Lock, Kellen Mond, Case Keenum, Andy Dalton, Cam Newton … plenty of quarterbacks who had no business being ahead of Hurts.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
On Tuesday morning, Simms admitted he took a big L on that one.
Hurts this season has started 15 games and has an 8-7 record in those games. He has completed 61.3% of his passes for 3,144 yards with 16 touchdowns and 9 interceptions and also has 784 yards on the ground with 10 more scores.
Hurts, 23, was named as a Pro Bowl alternate in his second NFL season.
NFL
There’s no question that Hurts has shown clear improvement in Year 2. Simms’ biggest critique of Hurts was that he didn’t view him as an NFL passer; but Hurts has made great strides in that area.
We still don’t know what Hurts’ ceiling is, but it’s pretty clear that Simms missed the mark on this evaluation. At least he realizes that now.
Subscribe to the Eagle Eye podcast
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube
This offseason, we had Simms on the Eagle Eye podcast and he explained his thoughts on Hurts:
“I never evaluated Jalen Hurts through my process — and I know he’s a fine young man and he’s got charisma and leadership skills and all that — but there’s just nothing that I ever saw that led me to think he’s an NFL starting quarterback,” Simms said in March. “And I don’t like saying that about a young kid and, listen, I hope he proves me wrong. And if he proves me wrong, I’ll be on here to go, ‘Way to go, Jalen Hurts, you made Chris Simms look like a dumb idiot, way to go.’ I hope that’s the case, I do.”
Hmm. You busy, Chris?
