Eagles Top 25 Best Players Countdown: Eagles’ Most Important Player Finishes at No. 6

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts was the most polarizing player in the top 10.

Jan 15, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) reacts during the second half of a 2024 NFC wild card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. / Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - It should be stipulated that Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts is a good NFL quarterback.

The question is how good? Especially, coming off a 2023 season in which the Philadelphia offense collapsed en route to a one-and-done playoff debacle at Tampa Bay. 

Is Hurts closer to being the runner-up to MVP Patrick Mahomes in 2022 and perhaps the best player on the field in Super Bowl LVII or the player that turned the football over 20 times in 2023 and looked confounded when opposing defenses dialed up the blitz, forcing the fifth-year quarterback to speed up his processing?

There wasn’t a more polarizing player in Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Top 25 Eagles rankings put together by Eagles on SI’s beat reporters Ed Kracz and John McMullen.

The list has become an annual affair as the two reporters submit their top 25 lists simultaneously so each would be unaffected by the others. No. 1 on the list is awarded 25 points and so on down the list with No. 25 receiving one point.

Hurts ultimately finished at No. 6 overall but was 10th on McMullen’s list while Kracz defaulted more to the 2022 version of Hurts by putting him at No. 4

There is some recency bias to those who’ve soured on Hurts because the Pro Bowl quarterback still made many plays last season, generating 38 touchdowns vs. the 35 he produced in his MVP-level season, albeit in two more games.

Hurts also set career-highs in passing yards (3,858), passing TDs (23), and rushing TDs (15), while piloting the third-ranked third-down offense, top-ranked fourth-down offense, and the No. 9 red-zone offense.

He was down in completion percentage (66.5 in 2022 to 65.4), yards-per-attempt (8.1 to 7.2), passer rating (101.5 to 89.1), rushing yards (760 to 605), and yards per rush (4.6 to a career-low 3.9), as well as the turnover issue.

Moving forward, if Hurts’ regresses to his mean regarding ball security, things should stabilize nicely. Hurts threw a total of 15 interceptions over the 2021 and 2022 seasons and a career-worst 15 in 2023. He’s been credited with nine fumbles in each of his four seasons but lost a career-worst five last season.

The quarterback’s ecosystem of offensive coordinator and family friend Brian Johnson and quarterbacks coach Alex Tanney paid the price for Hurts’ perceived regression last season, replaced by Kellen Moore and Doug Nussmeier in those respective coaching positions.

Eagles OC Kellen Moore / John McMullen/Eagles Today

In many ways, how Hurts’ reacts to his 10th different play-caller over nine seasons dating back to his start at college with Alabama (Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley, Lincoln Riley, Doug Pederson, Nick Sirianni, Shane Steichen, Johnson, and Moore) should tell the tale of Hurts rising or falling further on this list.

And that should define the Eagles 2024 campaign. 

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