Analyst Justifies Replacing Jalen Hurts With C.J. Stroud on Top 10 QBs List: 'He Won the Super Bowl and Everybody Forgot the 10 Weeks Before That'

With the 2025 NFL season right around the corner, Pro Football Focus has dropped its annual quarterback rankings, which, as always, have managed to spark a debate among fans and analysts alike. Patrick Mahomes leads the list without controversy, accompanied by Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen as Tier 1 playmakers.

Then it’s Tier 2, in which Jalen Hurts’ inclusion at the top (overall, No. 5 QB) has drawn scrutiny. Particularly as rising star C.J. Stroud was left in Tier 3 (ranked 14th).

A glimpse of this disagreement with the rankings was seen in the latest episode of The Herd, where Colin Cowherd and Chris Simms dissected whether Hurts truly earned his placement at 5, or if his Texans counterpart was the one who deserved the nod over him.

“C.J. Stroud is the only quarterback I look at — he’s Tier 3 — and I thought, okay, he’s a little lower than I would put him,” Cowherd said while acknowledging that PFF got its first four rankings to perfection.

“Tier 1 is pretty indisputable: Mahomes, Lamar, Burrow, Allen. Do you have a problem with that?” asked Cowherd to Chris Simms, who didn’t have an issue with the ranking, at least with the top four. “They’re in a stratosphere by themselves right now,” he said. “Special group right there.”

But once the conversation shifted to Tier 2, which included Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Matthew Stafford, and Justin Herbert, the NBC analyst was clear about who he thought didn’t belong.

“I would put C.J. Stroud in front of Jalen Hurts. That would be mine right there,” he stated.

Simms didn’t just throw the opinion out, he backed it with a detailed critique. “He won the Super Bowl and everybody just forgot about the 10 weeks before that,” he said. “Wild Card game, Divisional game — we were like, ‘Man, the passing game and the quarterback not looking good.’”

The analyst even referenced a public comment from Eagles star AJ Brown last year, where the receiver seemingly threw his QB under the bus with his comments: “The last seven or eight weeks of the year, his top receiver said, ‘What’s wrong with the team?’ The passing game.”

While Chris Simms is a well-known critic of Hurts, his latest stance isn’t just talk. The Eagles QB’s numbers in the 2024 regular season reflected a dip in form: 2,903 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and a 65.6 passer rating.

Though Hurts added 630 rushing yards and 14 scores on the ground, the inconsistency, particularly late in the year, raised questions, even in a Super Bowl-winning season.

By contrast, Stroud was the picture of stability. Despite battling injuries across the Texans’ offense, and having a leaking O-line in front of him, the Texans playmaker threw for over 4,000 yards, commanded games with confidence, and delivered a playoff win over the Chargers.

Even in a tougher sophomore year, Stroud’s decision-making, accuracy, and composure stood out, enough for analysts like Simms to call for his elevation in the QB ranking.

That said, neither Simms nor Cowherd had issues with others in Tier 2 of the list, and rightly so. While Jayden Daniels turned in a historic rookie season, Matthew Stafford brought the Rams back into relevance. Justin Herbert’s raw stats, meanwhile, continued to impress.