NFL analyst pours cold water on Jalen Hurts, Eagles hype

Carton thinks the Eagles are incredibly talented, but he has concerns about Hurts going into 2024.

He isn’t the only one.

Hurts is coming off of a rather lackluster 2023 campaign in which he threw for 3,858 yards, 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while completing 65.4 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 89.1. He added 15 rushing scores, but he also lost five fumbles.

That came after an incredible 2022 season in which Hurts finished with 3,701 yards, 22 touchdowns and six picks while completing 66.5 percent of his throws and posting a 101.5 passer rating en route to finishing second in MVP voting. Most importantly, he led Philadelphia to a Super Bowl appearance.

There is no doubt that Hurts took a significant step back last season, and it’s not like he could use a lack of supporting talent as an excuse.

Hurts, who played his collegiate football at the University of Alabama, was selected by Philly in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

He became the Eagles’ full-time starting quarterback in his sophomore year, registering 3,144 yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He completed 61.3 percent of his passes and recorded a passer rating of 87.2.

So, Hurts had one terrific season and a couple of rather pedestrian seasons thus far, which makes you wonder who the real Jalen Hurts is.

Philadelphia has a couple of outstanding wide receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith plus a very good tight end in Dallas Goedert. The club signed running back Saquon Barkley in free agency, and it also took some steps to improve its shoddy defense through both free-agent signings and the draft.

But all of that won’t really matter if Hurts doesn’t elevate his level of play in 2024.

It’s also important to note that the Eagles were last seen losing six of their last seven games, capped by a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.