Welcome to the first article of the new series “Hurts Vs. The World”. In this series of articles I will be comparing Eagles QB, Jalen Hurts, to other young QBs around the league. In this particular article we will be looking at Cardinals star QB, Kyler Murray.

If you want a duel-threat QB that can beat the pressure, Kyler Murray is your guy. The 3 year vet has been tearing defenses up with both his arm and his legs. Making unbelievable plays like the 50 yard hail-mary to DeAndre Hopkins, and avoiding half of the defense to make a deep throw down field, Murray is one of a kind. In the NFL we have young QBs like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert that are amazing passers but can only kill you with their arm. Then, we have young QBs like Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, and you guessed it.. Jalen Hurts. These guys are your least favorite to defend if you are the opposing team. Kyler Murray in particular probably has the best arm out of these 3 quarterbacks making him a defenses’ worst nightmare.

Murray’s arm strength and accuracy is what separates him from Jalen Hurts. This is common knowledge as Jalen Hurts receives quite a lot of criticism about his passing game. That being said, we have seen improvement out of Hurts even through just one season. With a guy like Murray, who’s been great right from the start, it’s easy to gain the support from NFL fans. Unfortunately for Hurts, he hasn’t quite earned high praise from NFL fans just yet. In the playoff game against the Bucs, Hurts couldn’t seem to read the field at all. This was a common mistake that Hurts has made all throughout the season. If he wants to be viewed at any elite level, this is something he’ll drastically need to improve on. With players like Hurts the eye test is so very important. Statistically in their first seasons as starter Hurts was very evenly matched with Murray.

Even though these stats are so similar, Hurts isn’t on the same level passing wise as Murray whatsoever. If you want to talk about rushing, you could say that Hurts easily takes the cake. Setting a franchise record 10 rushing TDs this season, Hurts was phenomenal on the ground. Murray is a great rusher as well but Hurts has single handedly won games with his legs. For many Eagles fans, his rushing TD against the Saints secured Hurts at least one more year as a starter. 

Nobody will deny what Hurts can do on the ground, but he will need a lot of armm improvement to be on the same level as Kyler Murray. It is definitely possible, but he will need to put in a lot of time and work to do so. Luckily for us, Hurts has an amazing work ethic so that shouldn’t be a problem. It would seem that Hurts gains a lot more recognition from NFL fans outside of the Eagles fanbase as he was voted a Pro Bowl alternate. It’s unfortunate that Eagles fans have to be the one to give Hurts the most hate, but unlike some athletes, Hurts can take the heat. In 3 years Murray and Hurts could be on the same level, but as it stands now, Hurts has a lot of work to do in order to catch up.

 

2 Comments

  1. Tony Brooks

    January 25, 2022 at 9:08 AM

    Since you are comparing Jaen Hurts to Kyler Murray, you may have missed one data point of comparison: Did you forget about the bone-head pass Murray lthrough from his own end-zone that ended in a pic-six? This was in a playoff game and far worse than anything Hurts did in his playoff game against Tampa Bay.

    • Hunter Simpson

      January 25, 2022 at 9:18 AM

      While that may be true, you have to take into account how poor Hurts was reading the field and the defense. Murray did play poorly, maybe even worse than Hurts, but one playoff game doesn’t define either of them as players.

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