Jalen
Hurts.
Jalen
Hurts.
Oklahoma· 6'1"· 222 lb· 4.59s 40
"He started a national championship game as a freshman, got benched at halftime of the next one, and then rebuilt himself into a Heisman runner-up at a second school — the character file is the evaluation."Pre-draft read
Compact, powerfully built dual-threat quarterback who operates from the gun in a spread offense and is at his best on designed runs, zone read and RPO concepts. Runs like a tailback between the tackles, with 43 college rushing touchdowns coming from short-yardage power as much as from open space.
As a passer he is decisive on the first read and accurate on rhythm throws, and the deep ball improved dramatically in his final season. Progressions get slower under pressure, where he tends to bail into a scramble rather than climb and reset. The signature is the short-yardage sneak or keeper that simply cannot be stopped, plus the refusal to fold that the whole college career is built around.
RPO and zone-read spread that keeps the quarterback run game as a core weapon
Year 1 as a developmental backup with a designed-run package while the progressions catch up; ceiling is a starting quarterback whose legs and short-yardage power reshape an offense.
A pure dropback timing offense that asks him to work a full-field progression from under center on early downs, which removes the run threat and exposes the processing.
Value rises sharply with a coordinator willing to build the run game around him rather than treating the quarterback runs as a change-up.
Jalen Hurts ULTIMATE 2019 Oklahoma Highlights!
The Heisman runner-up season, the passing leap that changed the evaluation.
Jalen Hurts Oklahoma Highlights 2019.09.14 vs UCLA
A 430-total-yard, four-touchdown game, a full-game look at the dual-threat package.
Jalen Hurts | 2019 Oklahoma Highlights
Second senior-season cut, useful for the designed-run and short-yardage work.
A Houston quarterback coached by his father in high school, he won the SEC Offensive Player of the Year award as a true freshman starter at Alabama, lost his job at halftime of the national championship game, spent a year as the backup without transferring, and then went to Oklahoma and finished second in the Heisman voting. Physically he is a 6-1, 218-pound athlete with a compact build, genuine tailback power and a workable arm.
The production across both schools is substantial: 9,477 passing yards with 80 touchdowns against 20 interceptions, plus 3,274 rushing yards and 43 rushing touchdowns in 56 games. The senior year at Oklahoma was the passing leap — 3,851 yards, 32 touchdowns, 69.7 percent completions and a 191.2 efficiency rating — but it came in a scheme that simplifies reads, and the pressure tape still shows a quarterback who wants to run before he wants to work the pocket.
The board was wide. Some rooms graded him as a developmental backup and gadget package, others as a starter whose processing would catch up. Philadelphia, already holding a quarterback under a long extension, took him at 53, which drew immediate criticism and looks better with every passing year.
- 01
Short-yardage power
Runs like a tailback between the tackles, which is why 43 of his college touchdowns came on the ground, many from inside the five.
- 02
Character and resilience
Lost the job at halftime of a title game, stayed, won a championship as a backup and then rebuilt himself at Oklahoma.
- 03
Senior passing leap
3,851 yards, 32 touchdowns and a 191.2 efficiency rating showed real mechanical and decision-making progress in one season.
- 04
Ball security as a passer
Twenty interceptions across 1,046 career attempts, including a single pick in the entire 2017 season at Alabama.
- 05
Leadership and preparation
Team captain at two programs and universally praised by coaches for work habits, a genuine tiebreaker at the position.
- 01
Slow progressions
Locks onto the first read and bails into a scramble rather than climbing and resetting, the central question in the projection.
- 02
Scheme simplification
The Oklahoma offense reduced full-field reads, so the leap in production came with a discount teams had to apply.
- 03
Accuracy variance outside the numbers
Ball placement drifts on comebacks and deep outs, throws that NFL corners turn into takeaways.
- 04
Pocket comfort
Feels pressure before it arrives and drops his eyes, which is where the sacks and the negative plays come from.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.59sp50
- Vertical
- 35inp50
- Broad jump
- 125inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Alabama | 15 | 240 | 382 | 2780 | 23 | 9 |
| 2017 | Alabama | 14 | 154 | 254 | 2081 | 17 | 1 |
| 2018 | Alabama | 13 | 51 | 70 | 765 | 8 | 2 |
| 2019 | Oklahoma | 14 | 237 | 340 | 3851 | 32 | 8 |
| Career | — | 56 | 682 | 1046 | 9477 | 80 | 20 |
Sports-Reference passing totals include bowl and playoff games and sum exactly to the career line (682 of 1,046 for 9,477 yards, 80 touchdowns, 20 interceptions in 56 games). Rushing splits come from ESPN's college ledger and also sum exactly (614 carries, 3,274 yards, 43 touchdowns). He also caught five passes for 40 yards and a touchdown across his career.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A day-two quarterback whose leadership and steady development turn him into a long-term franchise starter.
A compact dual-threat starter who wins a championship and improves every offseason of his rookie deal.
A beloved runner and leader whose passing never develops enough to hold a starting job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He opened as a backup and gadget option, then took over the starting job late in 2020 for a lost Philadelphia season. The 2021 team built a running offense around him and reached the playoffs; 2022 was the leap, with 22 touchdown passes, 13 rushing scores, an MVP-caliber season and a Super Bowl LVII appearance he nearly won by himself. A five-year, $255 million extension followed in 2023. After a bumpy 2023 with 15 interceptions, the 2024 season ended with a Super Bowl LIX title and Super Bowl MVP honors. He threw 25 touchdowns against six interceptions in 2025 and entered 2026 as a three-time Pro Bowler with the Eagles at 2-0. Through Week 2 of 2026 his career line reads 95 games, 18,358 passing yards, 115 passing touchdowns, 47 interceptions, 3,616 rushing yards and 63 rushing touchdowns.
This is the best value pick of the round and one of the best of the decade. The evaluation that dropped him to 53 was not stupid — the processing really was slow and the Oklahoma scheme really did flatter him — but it undervalued the thing that showed up everywhere in his college file: a quarterback who improves every single offseason. Philadelphia got a franchise starter, a Super Bowl MVP and a championship on a second-round rookie contract, which is the outcome every team in the league is trying to buy.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.