Eagles' Jalen Hurts Unfairly Doesn't Get Enough Credit for This Key Area

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

As we look at Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts over the past few years, there are certainly avenues in which he's gotten better, but others in which he hasn't done what we typically see him do. It's been a tough reality for an Eagles team that really needs their Super Bowl-winning quarterback to be one of the best in the world.

Everybody knows at this point that when Hurts is at his best, he's typically doing things at a very high level, running the football. He isn't the worst passer, though he's much better in the run game. There's something to be said about that, no matter how fans want to view it.

We all wish that Hurts was a better thrower, but that just isn't who he is, though some are definitely looking at his ability to change the offense on the ground as a way to fix some of the problems we saw on the Eagles offense a year ago.

“For me, the biggest Hurts question heading into 2026 is whether or not he's going to utilize his talents as a runner like he did from 2020 to 2024. As we had mentioned throughout the back half of the 2025 season, I was told that Hurts did not like having a lot of designed QB runs in the game plan. And sure enough, his rushing attempts per game were way down. He had rushed for over 600 yards each of his previous four seasons, but in 2025, just 421. As a result, the rushing offense suffered as a whole.

“Every jabroni with a keyboard puts out quarterback rankings these days, and last offseason it was fascinating to me how little credit Hurts got for how good the Eagles' rushing attack was in 2024. In these QB rankings, over and over again you would see people noting that Hurts only had to throw like 25 times per game because the Eagles' rushing attack is so good, which was true,” Jimmy Kempski of the PhillyVoice wrote.

In Hurts' defense, it isn't unfair to suggest that a year ago, Saquon Barkley was worse than we've ever seen him. Even during his time with the New York Giants, especially earlier in his career, he was a much better player. That also comes after a season of Barkley being the best running back in the world, so I'd go out on a limb and say that he should be more than fine in the future.