Recent QB ranking finally gives Jalen Hurts long overdue recognition

He has a lifetime rating of 93.5 and a career completion percentage of 64.4. While both statistics could be improved, they could also be worse. However, a quarterback's most valuable qualities are their leadership skills and ability to lead the team to victory, particularly when they are the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Consider this: they are the only position in football that has a win-loss record associated with their names. Cornerbacks do not have that distinction. No one asks for a middle linebacker’s winning percentage as a starter.

Still, even with that being said, there are other metrics for measuring and evaluating the job a good quarterback is doing. Often, it isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. How good is the team around him? Is he elevating teammates or being carried by them? If you've been paying attention, these are all discussions we have entertained about Jalen Hurts (and pretty much every other NFL QB).

Ranking offensive signal-callers vs. one another is an exercise conducted by football junkies all year. Recently, another quarterback ranking crossed the airwaves. This one stood out because it offered something we aren't used to: a respectable evaluation of Philadelphia's leader on offense.

Jalen Hurts lands fifth on FOX Sports' top ten QBs in the NFL

What were we thinking? We thought, after the Super Bowl, that Jalen Hurts would finally get his due. We thought there would always be criticism, but we believed it might simmer down. Here we are. Things haven't changed much.

Marcus Spears stated Jayden Daniels would be the NFC East's best QB by season's end. Sure, Daniels is good, but he has yet to beat Hurts in a head-to-head matchup that both have started and finished. Spears isn't alone in his theory, though. Another recent ranking slighted Hurts out of the top spot among quarterbacks in the division.

Thank Heaven for a recent ranking crafted by Fox Sports. Hurts gets the credit he deserves in that one.

"Hurts made his second Super Bowl and won his first ring last season. That being said, he wasn't as prolific of a passer in 2024 as he threw for a career-low (since being named a full-time starter) of 2,903 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. Those numbers were more of a function of the Philadelphia Eagles' successful commitment to their running game, which included Hurts rushing for 630 yards and 14 touchdowns and Saquon Barkley rushing for a career-high 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns."

The Eagles star lands behind Josh Allen, who topped the list, Patrick Mahomes (ranked second), Lamar Jackson (third), and Joe Burrow (fourth). He lands ahead of Jared Goff (sixth), Baker Mayfield (seventh), Justin Herbert (eighth), Jayden Daniels (ninth), and Dak Prescott (tenth).

We can debate the order in which guys should fall. These lists are always subjective, but if someone's theory is that Hurts is the fifth-best quarterback behind Allen, Mahomes, Jackson, and Burrow, that's at least a theory that we can digest without falling ill.

This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: New QB ranking gives Jalen Hurts the respect he has fought for