The quarterback countdown rolls on! 👀
QBs No. 21 to 25 ranked by @CSimmsQB. #NFL pic.twitter.com/pMFmCktMeE
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) May 26, 2022
Chris Simms is not a huge fan of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and that’s fair in the business of critiquing NFL quarterbacks, but a blatant bias can be unhealthy for the game.
In 2021, Simms had to explain why Hurts was omitted from his top-40 quarterback rankings despite being one of the best 32 signal-callers in the league, and far better than any backup that made the list.
Simms has finally admitted that he was wrong, and during his 2022 outlook, the NBC Sports analyst ranked Hurts at No. 25 on the list, but behind quarterbacks Daniel Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Zach Wilson.
When explaining the low ranking, Simms still says he isn’t completely sold.
“I was wrong last year, I think that’s fair to say. He was one of those first few guys off my list, I had questions about him. The way the 2020 season ended, I went ‘I’m not sure, I’m not sure he can do it.’ He proved to me that he can do it, but within that, I didn’t come away watching every Jalen Hurts throw from last year or anything going ‘Oh, he’s definitely the future. They got it, there’s no doubt about it, I was totally wrong.'”
So even after leading Philadelphia to the playoffs, Simms ranked Hurts behind three second-year quarterbacks who didn’t win more than four games, and Jones, who’s likely to lose his starting job with the Giants after not having his fifth-year option picked up.
