Jalen Hurts Has Quietly Dominated the NFL’s Best Quarterbacks

For whatever reason, Jalen Hurts still struggles to crack the NFL’s elite quarterback conversation.

ESPN’s annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts ranked Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson as the league’s top five quarterbacks entering 2026. Hurts did not make the top 10, instead appearing in the honorable mention group.

That ranking becomes a lot more interesting when you look at what happens when Hurts actually faces those quarterbacks.

Since 2023, the Philadelphia Eagles are 11-0 in games Hurts has started against that group:

4-0 vs. Matthew Stafford
3-0 vs. Patrick Mahomes
2-0 vs. Josh Allen
1-0 vs. Lamar Jackson
1-0 vs. Joe Burrow

Hurts has something most quarterbacks consistently placed above him still don’t: a Super Bowl championship and a Super Bowl MVP.

Hurts earned both by completing 17 of 22 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns while adding 72 rushing yards and another score in Philadelphia’s 40-22 Super Bowl LIX victory over Mahomes and Kansas City.

My Take

This is where the Hurts conversation loses me. If someone believes Allen, Mahomes or Stafford is a more gifted pure passer, that’s a perfectly reasonable football discussion.

What becomes harder to understand is acting like Hurts belongs nowhere near that tier.

He has been to two Super Bowls, won one, earned Super Bowl MVP and repeatedly beaten the quarterbacks everyone keeps ranking ahead of him. Hurts became just the seventh quarterback ever to reach multiple Super Bowls and win one within his first five seasons.

At some point, the résumé has to matter. Hurts may not always look like everyone’s idea of a top-five quarterback. He just keeps beating them.