Joe DeCamara is sick of the national media disrespecting Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, as players get set to report to Training Camp tomorrow.
"I continue to be amazed and basically perplexed by the national disrespect of Jalen Hurts," DeCamara said on Monday morning.
Specifically, DeCamara is annoyed with Pro Football Focus' top 50 NFL player list, which does not include Hurts.
"They have come out with a top 50 list of NFL players...it happens to include six quarterbacks. Six quarterbacks listed in front of Jalen Hurts. By the way, Jalen Hurts listed not in the top 50."
Patrick Mahomes (No. 1), Joe Burrow (No. 10), Josh Allen (No. 12), Justin Herbert (No. 35), Lamar Jackson (No. 41), and Aaron Rodgers (No. 45) were all ranked inside the top 50 and ahead of Hurts.
Three Eagles players did make the list: Lane Johnson (No. 15), A.J. Brown (No. 25), and Jason Kelce (No. 46).
Furthermore, NFL personnel ranked Hurts as the NFL's 6th best quarterback in ESPN.com's annual survey which was released last week.
"What are the theories of why Jalen Hurts gets disrespected on the national level? He proved it, he went toe to toe with Mahomes in the Super Bowl, Eagles were a dominant team, he was a huge part of it, he finished second in the MVP."
Former NFL fullback and DeCamara's co-host Jon Ritchie agreed with DeCamara.
"The lack of information here resides with the pundits that seem to get Jalen Hurts more wrong than other quarterbacks," Ritchie said. "And these pundits were former backup quarterbacks, who weren't good enough to really make it as the guy that was playing...Maybe jealousy became a factor at times."
Ritchie also points out that he believes Hurts' rookie season in 2020, where he played in just four games and completed only 52.0-percent of his passes, hurt his status on Pro Football Focus.
"It feels like Jalen Hurts, with this PFF system got so behind because of that first year...Remember, it's the first year he was playing, he was thrust into action. He also happened to have the longest average throw time of any quarterback in the NFL [as a rookie]...3.39 seconds before he threw ball, that was the longest in the NFL. That means it just took him awhile. He was young, he wasn't ready, he wasn't ready to process."
One national NFL analyst who defended Hurts recently is former Eagles executive Louis Riddick, who believes Hurts is entering top-two NFL QB territory.
The biggest knock on Hurts is his small sample size of success, but there is no denying what Hurts has done in his short time as an NFL starting quarterback.
Last season, in 15 starts, Hurts went 14-1 with 3,701 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, and 13 rushing touchdowns in the regular season. Hurts was the MVP runner up to Patrick Mahomes.
Hurts then led the Eagles to the Super Bowl and in three playoff games, he threw for 579 yards, three touchdowns and ran for another 143 yards and five scores.
In his first season as a starter, his second NFL season, Hurts went 8-7 throwing for 3,144 yards, 16 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while rushing for 784 yards and 10 more scores.
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