Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
NFL Training Camp starts in just over a month. Teams are wrapping up their mandatory OTA's, meaning there's down time before football starts up again. Naturally during this period, NFL commentary is reduced to random trade rumors, hot takes and quarterback rankings.
NBC's Chris Simms made headlines this week when he revealed his top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL on his show, Chris Simms Unbuttoned. Simms ranked Jalen Hurts 10th, which has caused some uproar.
Surprisingly, FS1's Nick Wright came to Hurts' defense during Tuesday's episode of First Things First. Wright has long been critical of Hurts, which even caused the quarterback's mother, Pamela, to confront him in the aftermath of the Super Bowl. This time he supported the Eagles signal caller.
Wright mainly took issued with Simms placing Justin Herbert ahead of Hurts.
"Having Jalen Hurts behind Justin Herbert, it's one of those things where it tells me a lot about the evaluator and what they value and what they don't," Wright said. "And this is not an attack on Chris Simms, I promise, but it speaks to just a massive ego of 'I just know better.'
"I just don't know how you can say (Herbert's) better than Jalen Hurts. That one ranking seems indefensible other than 'I just know.'"
Chris Simms ranks Jalen Hurts #10 in his 2025 QB rankings. @getnickwright reacts:
“I just don’t know how you can say [Justin Herbert] is better than Jalen Hurts. That one ranking seems to me to be indefensible other than, ‘eh, I just know.’” pic.twitter.com/kQrw9Svvxb
That doesn't mean Wright felt Hurts should be in the top five, or even in the top eight for that matter. The only definitive statement he made was Hurts needed to be above Hebert.
"I think everybody else ahead of him, I can see how you can construct the argument," Wright said. "I just talked about how good Jalen's been in two Super Bowls. Baker's obviously never been in the Super Bowl, but he's an awesome postseason performer.
"If you said, 'Hey, drop Baker on Philadelphia with Saquon and those guys, with those receivers, could he be super effective?' C.J. (Stroud), it's very limited, but in two years he's shown high highs. Jayden (Daniels), a lot of that's projection, but he had the greatest rookie we've ever seen. I can get it with those other guys. Herbert, to me, there's not an argument for him other than I love how he looks in practice."
Based on Wright's comments, it seems like he's hating on Herbert, more than falling in love with Hurts. Though his tone has changed, especially since the Super Bowl, where Hurts was the MVP. Wright — a massive Kansas City Chiefs fan — could no longer dis Hurts after he outplayed Patrick Mahomes for arguably the second time in three seasons.
Wright also gave a fair warning to Simms if he ever crosses paths with Hurts' mother.
"If you happen to run into Mama Hurts, she's going to give you a piece of her mind, let me tell you from someone with first-hand experience," Wright said.
As the season approaches, more rankings will likely appear. A lot of them are subjective, especially when you get outside the top four of Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. That group has separated themselves from everyone else, while Hurts often finds himself in the five to 10 range. He's a polarizing figure, as shown by the discourse surrounding Simms' rankings and Wright's response.
