![]() ![]() Tough to predict, sometimes.īy Year 2, Hurts showed he possessed NFL mojo. It was the type of rookie season that either can be a harbinger of a second-round draft pick fizzling or become the footnote to a fine career. Hurts persisted after his NFL rookie season featured some bumps in the road. This is a story about persistence, resoluteness and winning. I just don’t see this story being centered on a plucky but unheralded quarterback ascending from obscurity to the Super Bowl. Don’t take that as me diminishing his achievements or persistence. So, no, I don’t buy the underdog narrative attached to Hurts. 53 overall? That’s four rounds ahead of Tom Brady. The Eagles believed that true and selected Hurts in the second round despite possessing Carson Wentz on their roster.Īn underdog, drafted No. “I’ve always been a team-first guy, but I’m a quarterback,” Hurts said before the 2020 Senior Bowl. ![]() At the Senior Bowl and again at the NFL scouting combine, the question was raised whether he’d change positions. Still, he encountered the usual tropes ahead of the NFL Draft. Then Hurts transferred and enjoyed a career-best season at Oklahoma, reiterating his bona fides as a winner but also showing few were better as a dual-threat dynamo. Then he was one great quarterback at a great program backing up another great quarterback. He had a bad half against a quality defense on the big stage and got benched. The following season, he became Tua Tugavailoa’s backup.Ĭue the down and out, underdog narrative, even if it's untrue. That benching became an overarching narrative of Hurts’ college career. Philadelphians proudly wear the East Coast’s blue collar.Īnd then here's Hurts, whom Nick Saban benched (smartly, I’ll add) against Georgia during the 2018 national championship. So much so that they probably dislike being a 1.5-point favorite in the betting spread. ![]() No one relishes the underdog moniker more than Philadelphia. Oh, I understand why the underdog narratives are affixed to Hurts. They’ll root for Hurts next weekend from his native Houston to Norman to Tuscaloosa to Cincinnati to the California coast to Sin City, because you just know Bengals and Raiders fans aren’t supporting the Chiefs. He welcomes everyone’s support, and he’s earned it. I went to Alabama too /jUNTcMfR2uĬlassic response from the All-America Kid. When a reporter recently noted Hurts represents Oklahoma well, he corrected the scribe by saying he “went to Alabama, too.” He finished second for the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma to the incomparable Joe Burrow. He won a national championship with Alabama. ![]() He became the first true freshman quarterback to start for Alabama in 32 years. Hurts excelled at not one, but two, of the greatest and most storied college football programs. Kurt Warner was an underdog who went from starting one season at an FCS school to stocking shelves at a grocery store to Arena Football to winning a Super Bowl with the Rams. He’s an MVP finalist in his third NFL season. More like, Hurts is the All-American Kid and a trophy magnet. He’s done it with a literal one-time homecoming queen candidate from Alabama on his arm. The 24-year-old’s latest act is steering the Eagles into the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. SEC FOOTBALL QB BATTLES: From Alabama to Ole Miss to Vols, breaking down the hottest QB competitionsĪLABAMA FOOTBALL: Nick Saban expected to hire Notre Dame's Tommy Rees as offensive coordinator TOPPMEYER: We'll see if Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher is more Brian Kelly or Phillip Fulmer on the hot seat If we ever doubted Hurts, then that’s on us, because all he’s ever done is prove he’s an achiever. ![]()
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