Another Jalen To Doubt in the NFL at Your Own Risk
Published January 23, 2025 - 2:23 PM CST
With a win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles will be back in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. In fact, if both favorites win this Sunday, the Eagles will be playing the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch from their Super Bowl meeting just two years ago. When we consider the consensus scouting report on Hurts at the time he transferred from Alabama to Oklahoma in January 2019, it is quite remarkable to see just how much he has exceeded expectation over the past six years. As fascinating as it all is, I believe Jalen Milroe has a lot in common with Jalen Hurts at this stage in his college career.
Do you remember that Super Bowl? Of course, you do. Hurts was absolutely incredible and had the Eagles on the verge of a championship before one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history helped the Kansas Chiefs win the game late.
But let’s go back to the first half of the Alabama-Georgia national championship game in 2017. The game that made Tua Tagovailoa famous. After watching what Tua did with those weapons in the second half of the comeback against Georgia, it became apparent that Jalen Hurts left a lot to be desired as a passer and was holding the offense back.
Hurts returned to Alabama in 2018 to admirably compete for the quarterback job and instantly became a fan-favorite for his character and commitment to the team; however, there was never any doubt that Tua was the man that year. Tua was the frontrunner for the Heisman for the entirety of the season until he got knocked out of the SEC Championship game. This was the game where Hurts would come in and save the team in one of the greatest moments in Alabama football history.
After spending the 2018 season behind Tua, Hurts would ultimately transfer to Oklahoma for the 2019 season and finish second place in Heisman voting to Joe Burrow, who had the greatest statistical season ever for a college football quarterback.
Hurts had an incredible season in Normal under Lincoln Riley, but many observers were still not convinced that he could be a starting quarterback in the NFL, so he fell to the Eagles in the second round of the draft.
You might think Hurts had plenty of believers to be drafted as high as the second round, but the reality is that top-rated, elite quarterback prospects are almost certainly picked near the top ten. In fact, there are many quarterbacks that are picked in the mid-to-late first round that turn out to be horrible busts. Why? Because quarterback is by far the most important position in the NFL, and the reward justifies the risk. Who wouldn’t strike out ten times for the chance to land the next Patrick Mahomes? Just ask the Cleveland Browns.
Nonetheless, a second-round pick is better than no pick, and it showed the Eagles believed Hurts had the potential to develop into a great quarterback. After his first season in the league, Nick Sirianni was hired as the new Eagles head coach. One of the first big moves under his tenure was to trade franchise quarterback Carson Wentz, whom Hurts had replaced late in his rookie season, to the Indianapolis Colts. This showed that the Eagles were all-in on Hurts and weren’t thinking about a backup plan.
In the offseason, the Eagles committed to building around Hurts by selecting former Alabama stars Devonta Smith and Landon Dickerson in the first two rounds of the rookie draft. Smith, who had played with Hurts in 2017, won the Heisman trophy in 2020 with one of the greatest seasons ever by a college wide receiver. Dickerson was a unanimous All-American and won the Rimington Trophy as the best center in the country. The Eagles already had the best center in the league, Jason Kelce, so they put Dickerson at guard to bolster what was already one of the best offensive lines in the league.
The Eagles started the 2021 season 2-5, but they managed to go on a strong run to end the season and finished 9-8 with a berth in the playoffs. The strong second half showed the Eagles had potential and were on the cusp of something great heading into the offseason.
In the 2022 draft, the Eagles drafted another interior offensive lineman in the second round, Cam Jurgens, to fortify their top-notched offensive live. They also acquired wide receiver AJ Brown in a draft-day trade with the Tennessee Titans, which gave the Eagles another #1 receiver to complement Devonta Smith. The Eagles, locked and loaded, made an incredible run to the Super Bowl where they came up just short against Mahomes and the Chiefs, 38-35.
In the 2023 draft, the Eagles added another second-round offensive lineman (Tyler Steen) to further bolster their line.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Eagles are a run-first team built around Hurts’ running ability. So, what did the Eagles do after a late-season fade in 2023? They went out and got the best running back on Earth, Saquon Barkley, to run behind their magnificent offensive line alongside Hurts.
So here we are again with another Alabama quarterback who is an incredible runner but ‘cannot pass’ as many will say. It is an observation that I cannot sit here and constructively dismiss. However, after watching and being completely wrong about Jalen Hurts’ NFL potential after all these years, I can sit here and say this: I will only be fooled once by an exceptionally athletic quarterback from Alabama with great integrity and work ethic.
I’ll admit it was probably mutually beneficial for Milroe to leave Alabama for the NFL draft. Sometimes, change is good for everyone. Milroe isn’t the ideal quarterback for Kalen DeBoer’s system, and Milroe needs to be somewhere where the organization is built around him. That is too much to ask of DeBoer on too short notice. Still, we cannot overlook the fact that Jalen Milroe is projected by most observers to be a first-round draft pick. Some even have him as the #2 quarterback behind Cam Ward. I have seen some pretty bad quarterbacks get drafted in my time. You would be a fool to dismiss the possibility of Milroe going in the first round.
Yes, there is a difference between being drafted high and playing at a high level. But the fact that he is even in the discussion lends itself to admitting he has potential. I know we all saw it this year. Let’s forget all of the bad moments for a moment and remember that he looked incredible on the road at Wisconsin and LSU. And that Georgia game was something special too on September 28th. Lest we not forget, Milroe carved the Bulldogs up by running and passing. Less than four months ago, Alabama was ranked #1 and Milroe was the favorite to win the Heisman.
Recency bias and high expectations have left a bad taste in the mouths of Alabama fans, but I believe there is plenty of reason for optimism regarding Milroe’s potential at the next level. For him to succeed, there are a few things that need to work in his favor.
For starters, Milroe doesn’t need to be a top pick in the draft. Teams that pick at the top of the NFL draft usually have a high draft pick for a reason – they weren’t very good the previous season. The Eagles, however, were only two seasons removed from a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots when they drafted Hurts in the second round. Hurts had good players around him to start with, and that put him in a better position to succeed than other players drafted into worse situations.
Secondly, it would be helpful if Milroe went to an NFL organization that has had a track record of sustaining success more often than not. Even though the Cleveland Browns made the playoffs as recently as the 2023 season, they are known for being a graveyard for quarterbacks and have been mismanaged and poorly coached for decades.
Most importantly to Milroe’s success, the team that drafts him needs to build their roster around him and believe in him the way the Eagles built around Jalen Hurts. This commitment doesn't need to happen on day one, but if Milroe demonstrates early on in his career that he can be a long-term star in the NFL, then his team doesn’t need to wait to go all-in on him and surround him with players that can best compliment his style of play. Another good example that comes to mind is Lamar Jackson and his sustained success with the Baltimore Ravens after facing similar questions about his passing abilities coming out of Louisville.
Over the past two seasons as Alabama’s starter, we’ve seen Jalen Milroe take steps forward and we’ve seen him take steps backward. Knowing what we know about his commitment to the game, we cannot rule out the simple fact that, like Jalen Hurts, Jalen Milroe will continue to improve and better his game. It’s certainly no guarantee that Jalen Milroe will be a star at the next level. I am not here to confidently say that he will be. But I am here to say that it would be foolish to think that he has no chance of being successful in the NFL given the natural skills that he already has.
