Rival NFL fans are convinced Eagles overpaid for Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts earned a monster five-year, $255 million contract from the Eagles and rival fans of the Cowboys, 49ers and more were quick to say they overpaid.
Fresh off leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl berth and doing enough offensively to, in theory, win another Lombardi Trophy, the franchise has rewarded quarterback Jalen Hurts handsomely.
On Monday, the Eagles and Hurts agreed to a monster five-year, $255 million contract with just shy of $200 million guaranteed. It’s a deal that makes the former second-round pick the highest-paid player in the NFL and, of course, banks on the Super Bowl run not being a flash in the pan.
Rival fans, particularly those of the 49ers (the team Hurts and Philadelphia beat in the NFC Championship Game) and Cowboys (the Eagles’ biggest and longtime NFC East rival), were quick to jump to a simple conclusion, though: Jalen Hurts is now overpaid.
Jalen Hurts contract has rival fans screaming the Eagles overpaid QB
Into the void of social media, rival fans hurriedly unleashed their takes that Jalen Hurts is overpaid after this new contract.
Is Hurts getting a ton of money from the Eagles on this deal? Absolutely. Did he earn that with an MVP-caliber season and Super Bowl run? Possibly. But all of these immediate takes lack so much context.
Yes, paying Jalen Hurts more than Patrick Mahomes makes is, in a vacuum, crazy. But the quarterback market has further exploded since the Chiefs signed that contract. Moreover, with Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert set for new contracts soon too, it’s likely Hurts’ reign as the highest-paid NFL player is short-lived. In that, the Eagles are wise to get this deal done first.
There are indeed questions about what Hurts will look like in a new offense now that Shane Steichen is in Indianapolis. There are questions about how he’ll produce an encore to his phenomenal 2022 campaign. But these are all questions that would be asked about any player in this situation.
The truth of the matter is that Hurts has improved every facet of his game every year that he’s been in Philadelphia. The Eagles are banking on that continuing, clearly, but that doesn’t mean he’s overpaid, despite what rival fans would have you believe.
