Former NFL quarterback and current NBC analyst Chris Simms has been viewed as a critic of Jalen Hurts early in his career, from leaving him off his top 40 quarterbacks countdown before the 2021 season to saying last week that he believes Daniel Jones is a better passer than the second-team All-Pro.
A few years ago, Simms was seen as one of the best evaluators of young quarterbacks coming into the league that worked in media. Some of his comments about Hurts -- while always focused on his play, not the person -- have been proven wrong, and therefore hurt his reputation.
And so after the Philadelphia Eagles punched their ticket to the Super Bowl Sunday, Simms took a step back and acknowledged that his projections of what Hurts would become have been proven incorrect.
"Hey, I was wrong ... yeah, I questioned how good he was. Crap, he's definitely a top 10 quarterback in football [with] what he's doing," Simms said on PFT Live Monday.
"He's one of the greatest leaders in the sport," Simms continued. "You could tell right there [in his postgame press conference], he doesn't even seem happy that he won the NFC Championship Game. He seems like he's still chippy and like 'I'm gonna prove you wrong still more.' I love that about him. I do.
"And again, he's done a great job as far as leading the team ... making big plays ... running the football. And the way they are playing is formulated around his skill-set now, to where they got something special going here yesterday."
Simms did go on to say that he didn't believe Hurts was 100% in the NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers, analysis that many others have also said in the nearly 24 hours since the game. After all, Hurts is dealing with a right shoulder sprain, and while the two weeks between yesterday and the Super Bowl will be beneficial to him, there's a good chance he won't be at full strength until after he's able to get extended rest in the offseason.
Nonetheless, the Eagles have gone 16-1 in games that Hurts has started during the 2022-23 season, and in addition to being a dynamic runner, the 24-year-old has done a tremendous job at limiting turnovers in his third NFL campaign.
As Simms said, Hurts is unquestionably one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the sport right now, and he may very well be closer to five than 10.
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