Jalen Hurts is now the highest paid player in NFL history after agreeing a huge five-year extension with the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday.
The Eagles and Hurts have agreed terms on a five-year, $255million (£182m) extension after a stunning season for the young quarterback. Hurts led the Eagles to the No.1 seed in the NFC last season, and was denied his first Super Bowl success after a stunning comeback from Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.
Hurts scored three rushing touchdowns in the Super Bowl, and the Eagles have made extending his deal a priority this offseason. The 24-year-old was a second-round draft pick in 2020, and has been rewarded for his stunning rise in the NFL.
The Eagles see Hurts as their future, and rightly so after proving to be one of the best up-and-coming stars in the NFL. Hurts has established himself as one of the best young talents, and was unlucky not to wrap up last season with a Super Bowl trophy.
It's unlikely to be his last appearance, as Hurts and the Eagles are expected to compete for the foreseeable future. They've wasted little time in extending his deal, and the amount agreed is a clear statement for how confident they are in the 24-year-old.
Of the $255m (£182m), $179.3m (£145m) is guaranteed money, which sees him soar above Aaron Rodgers as the most well-paid quarterback in the league. The deal does put pressure on both the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Chargers however, as Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow are awaiting extensions.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni even compared Hurts to Michael Jordan back in January, revealing just how highly he rates the quarterback. "It's like having Michael Jordan out there," Sirianni said. "He's your leader. He's your guy.
"That comparison is kind of in that aspect of it. Again, was I around Michael Jordan? No, but I was able to watch from afar when I was a kid, but then also you're able to watch these documentaries and you see that common denominator of those things — the first thing you asked me about Jalen, I always talk about all those things, all the intangibles that he has.
"That's where that’s coming from is just that will to win. It's at a different level. He had that big chain on. What did it say? A breed of one. He's a breed of one. That's who he is. He's unlike anybody I've been around just with how much he loves this game, how much winning drives him, how much getting better every day drives him, how much leading drives him. He's special. He is a special dude."
