People don't want to understand Jalen Hurts

A GQ feature tried to understand the Eagles quarterback, but most took it as a means to validate already held opinions – good or bad.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Mark Konezny/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Jalen Hurts discourse never ends.

Right in the NFL's last stretch of quiet between the preseason and the always-awaited regular season, GQ offered up the fuel to keep the media cycle and fan spheres on social media spinning for long enough until there's something, finally, tangible to talk about.

The magazine's editor, and Philly native, Zach Baron ventured back to his hometown in June to interview Jalen Hurts while atop the Art Museum steps at the end of the Ben Franklin Parkway and then at the Filter Club over rounds of pool.

And through an extensive feature spotlighting the Eagles' star quarterback, Baron posed the overarching question, which culminated in its headline: "Can Anyone Decode Jalen Hurts, the NFL’s Most Cryptic Quarterback?"

Baron struggled to. Many do. But it's one of the rare, more grounded, and actually published conversations with Hurts that exist beyond the gridiron and a sea of reporters flooding him with questions during a press conference, either after a game or after practice, when his guard is up and the stoic but mostly neutral quotes are fully stocked.

The story that went up on Tuesday covered a variety of subjects that have regularly spun around a bizarrely polarizing QB: The A.J. Brown rift that Hurts only answered with a "clearly" to whether they grew apart after some pressing; his ultimate responsibility in adapting to a revolving door of playcallers with every passing year; his ownership of the Eagles' collective and seemingly biennial offensive failings in between outright dominant ones; his unbreakable stoicism and the surrounding frustration that can sometimes stem from that; his willingness to win by whatever means, regardless of how he looks; his attachment to losses and what they can teach more so than the wins; and a hyper-competitiveness that spills over into pool, which relates back to football for Hurts, and all the highs and lows through his career, in more ways than one.

"There’s always a shot on the table," Hurts told Baron. "How do I figure this out?”

And regardless of whatever you think of Jalen Hurts as an NFL quarterback, you do have to hand it to him, for as much as many don't want to: He has gotten pretty good at figuring it out, regardless of how it ultimately looks.

Baron's piece is a worthwhile read for all Eagles fans (check it out HERE). But like any piece of media spotlighting Hurts as a player, and as a person, it's rife with short-worded, stonefaced answers and self-inspiring reflections, "Hurts-isms" as many Eagles fans have come to know them, which never quite let the story stand out as a true eye-opener or anything that would truly change someone's opinion of Jalen Hurts in one way or another.

But the reality is, it was probably never going to.

Because people have their minds made up about Jalen Hurts, and at this point, any further information just gets morphed into whatever is needed to reinforce an already set opinion.

Any attempt to genuinely understand Jalen Hurts and relay that to the masses, like Baron tried to, will be met with a cold splash of water from the larger football world that a lot of people just really don't want to.

But maybe that doesn't matter, and maybe – probably – Hurts doesn't really care either.

When GQ's story went up on Tuesday, it had plenty of traction on social media, but it didn't seem like the needle moved.

Fans gripped to the part about the A.J. Brown fallout to keep speculating on who could've been the real "bad guy" in the receiver's eventual trade to New England this summer, after a sustained run of success that included two Super Bowl trips and a Super Bowl win. Or they stuck to the small bit of Hurts trying to remember a couple of local longstanding reporters' names during the interview as a convenient means to validate their dislike of them.

The national media was well occupied with Aaron Donald's unretirement, which makes the Rams a major favorite with a stacked roster on paper, and has analysts fully prepared to launch Matthew Stafford into the all-time QB conversation if they win – whereas if Hurts was in that spot, and he already has been, the argument would've shifted to him being covered for and carried. And mind you, this is with the (frankly annoying) consensus already that Buffalo's Josh Allen is the golden boy who can do no wrong, despite doing so repeatedly in the playoffs, when Hurts, more often than not, hasn't.

And the local sportstalk radio? Well, that article was just another spark to continue an argument over Hurts' merit as a starting quarterback that hasn't progressed anywhere all summer – if anything, they took it backwards.

Same s***, different day.

Hurts is going into Year 6 as the Eagles' starting quarterback, and with yet another new offensive playcaller that he has to mesh with.

He's gotten the Eagles to the playoffs in every season as a starter so far, as their floor. He's already led the Eagles to two Super Bowls, did the once thought impossible of climbing all the way back to win it after losing the first time, and did it by toppling the NFL's former boogeymen in Patrick Mahomes and the dynasty Chiefs to do it.

He's the second-round pick that used to not make any sense because, at the time, the Eagles already had Carson Wentz – they were supposed to be good at QB. He was the guy who Alabama benched in the National Championship, and the guy who has been repeatedly criticized from every direction as a limited passer by pundits and fans of other teams, who can never seem to move on from any of that, or just come to grips with the fact that he's been much further than any of the other "elite" quarterbacks who are supposed to be better than him and that it's probably not an accident.

But that's the reality, isn't it?

People don't want to have their minds changed about Jalen Hurts.

And they don't want to understand him, either, like Baron aimed to do.

It's just about validation, to go, "See! I told you!" Even though a lights-out performance in Super Bowl LIX and Philadelphia's second-ever parade up to those Art Museum steps a couple of years ago should've been the end of that.

But maybe that all doesn't really matter. It probably doesn't to Hurts.

Because there's another shot on the table, and he and the Eagles are much better off figuring that one out.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/people-dont-want-understand-jalen-hurts-gq-article-reaction-thoughts/

There's so much more to a starting QB in the NFL than physical talent. As the most important position on the field and on the team, there are expectations that come from the owner, the GM, the coaches and the players.

When talking about the physical aspect, the arm strength, the ability to make all the throws, pocket presence, escape ability and athleticism, Hurts has the tools.

The mental part of the position with reading defenses and going thru progressions, I think Hurts can be a little too cerebral and it slows down his decision making. It's part of his game that can still improve......but I think working with a new OC every year and all the changes that go with that, It had been slow to develop. When you're talking about doing it in seconds as the play starts, it has hampered him. The emotional ups and downs, overcoming adversity and focusing on the a particular goal, I think Hurts is really good at those things.

Then other factors of leadership, face of the franchise, trust and confidence of his teammates, composure, coachability, adaptability, dedication and work ethic....those are all traits he has. His desire and dedication to keep improving is unquestionable. First guy in, last guy out. He's what you want in a QB.

But in Philly, emotion, fire, gritty and a bit of an underdog mentality goes a long way....that's why a lot of back up QBs got so much love. There are QBs in the NFL that pile up stats, are considered top 5 or top 10 but rarely win in the playoffs. Hurts has been to 2 super bowls and won 1 with an MVP and gone to the playoffs for the past 6 years.

Stats rule popular opinion.....but Hurts is a very good QB.