ESPN annual NFL survey: Jalen Hurts isn't a top 10 QB anymore

In its annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts, ESPN bumped Eagles QB Jalen Hurts out of its top 10.

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice

ESPN.com's annual survey of NFL personnel led to Jalen Hurts not being ranked among the league's top 10 QBs.

NFL personnel no longer see Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as a top-10 player at his position.

ESPN.com on Monday released the quarterback edition of its yearly survey polling NFL executives, coaches and scouts to create a top 10 and honorable mention at each position.

Hurts, coming off a personal-best 25-touchdown season but also a first-round playoff exit, fell out of the top 10 altogether and was the seventh and final name listed among the honorable mentions.

Last year, Hurts ranked ninth coming off a Super Bowl win in which he was named MVP. He, Baker Mayfield and Jayden Daniels were all top-10 QBs from the 2025 survey who didn't crack the top 10 this summer, replaced by Dak Prescott, Drake Maye and Caleb Williams, which surely will not go over well with the legions of Eagles fans that already believe Hurts is routinely disrespected nationally and locally by the media.

Here is how the best 10 quarterbacks ranked, per ESPN.com's survey.

Joining Hurts among the honorable mentions were: Super Bowl champion Sam Darnold, Daniels, Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Mayfield, and Trevor Lawrence.

Here's what an anonymous AFC offensive coach said about Hurts, per the ESPN.com story:

"I know it has been up-and-down, but I'm still betting on the Super Bowl credentials, the intangibles and the toughness." [ESPN.com]

The author of the annual survey, Jeremy Fowler, shed more light on the rankings by showing what tiers the quarterbacks fell into.

Fowler on Monday afternoon also appeared on local sports talk station 97.5 The Fanatic and explained that Hurts ended up ranking as the league's 17th-best quarterback:

The debate over where Hurts ranks among his peers is an annual late-summer/NFL dead period exercise, and often ends up with scores of Eagles fans taking to social media to air their grievances.

Last year, Hurts was viewed as disrespected by several sports outlets that do positional rankings, including Yahoo! and NBC Sports, each of which didn't have Hurts ranked in the top 10 despite the team's Super Bowl run.

Hurts has been to two Super Bowls, was the MVP of one of them, and was a defensive holding call away from potentially having two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs.

But also, he has never thrown for more than 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns, and the Eagles' passing offense has labored during stretches – sometimes long stretches – of each of the past three seasons, the latest one leading to the firing of play caller Kevin Patullo and hiring of new OC Sean Mannion as the Eagles were a three-and-out factory.

The Eagles registered the NFL's 23rd-ranked pass offense after ranking 29th in 2024 and 16th in 2023. Fairly or not, quarterbacks are often judged by the strength of their respective team's passing game more so than total offense or overall team success, which is how Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert can be viewed as top 10 despite the Cowboys missing the playoffs and the Chargers being 0-3 in the postseason with Herbert.

Williams is somewhat of an outlier, as he completed just 58.1 percent of his passes – the lowest among any QB with at least 11 starts – and didn't hit the 4,000-yard barrier or 30-touchdown mark, but the Bears overall produced a top-10 passing offense and Williams led the NFL with six fourth-quarter comebacks, several of which were on prime time. 

The ranking also shows how NFL personnel frequently favor draft pedigree, as nine of the top 10 are first-round picks, and how year to year these rankings can be, evidenced by Maye and Williams jumping ahead of Hurts and into the top 10 after taking their respective team to the postseason in 2025 following disappointing rookie seasons.

Meanwhile, Darnold – the third overall pick in 2018 – just won a Super Bowl, has consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons, has made the last two Pro Bowls, and has a 100.9 passer rating over the past two seasons isn't ranked among the 10 best, either. 

Daniels ranked fifth last year after a splashy rookie season in which he took the Commanders to the NFC Championship and won Offensive Rookie of the Year, but fell out of the top 10 altogether after an injury marred 2025 in which he started just seven games and saw big drops in completion percentage, passer rating and yards per game.

Bottom line: There's no exact science to this. But the way Hurts is viewed nationally is consistently much different than how he's viewed among the fan base, and always makes for a good sports argument. 

https://www.phillyvoice.com/espn-annual-nfl-survey-jalen-hurts-not-top-10-quarterback-dak-prescott-josh-allen/

Hurts knows what a chip on your shoulder is for.

Jalen Hurts has his issues and playing NFL QB is an ever evolving skill. And the because NFL has done everything to make it a passing league, stats are inflated to a point where you have to look at more than a few other factors to determine just how good a QB truly is.

Some of those factors are measurable, others are circumstantial and opinion. Some examples are, HC & OC changes and scheme changes can contribute and affect how a QB produces. Skill player changes from cap casualties and free agency, injuries and quality of offensive line play. And how a guy plays in pressure situations, big games, playoffs and bringing a team back late in the game. Some guys have the benefit of a top defense who consistently secure turnovers and short fields. Then there is the schedule and the division a QB has to go up against.

This ranking is an OPINION poll. And there are other rankings bases strictly on stats. If there was ever a way to generate a ranking that took these factors along with stats and opinions, I think the rankings would change quite a bit. I think some of these QBs are way overrated.

Personally, as I stated, Hurts has his issues and room for improvement. But the guy is a winner. And better than what he's given credit for......

Last year he was too high, this year he’s too low. I kind of think is that simple. He’s not the 17th best QB in the league he’s top 12 but he’s also not top 3. And so he’s not one of those guys who will be consistently ranked like Allen, Burrow, Lamar or Mahomes. They can survive a down year and still be top 5. Hurts will yo-yo until he improves on his passing and this offense actually starts to put up more points. He needs to be more consistent year in and year out.