Cowboys star Micah Parsons questions if Jalen Hurts deserves to be MVP

Is Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts the leading candidate to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award?

Micah Parsons has some doubts.

The Dallas Cowboys star and former Penn State standout was a guest on The Von Cast, a Bleacher Report podcast hosted by Buffalo Bills defender Von Miller. The show bounced around a number of topics — Tom Brady, his next contract, and even Nick Foles — before the discussion turned to which player deserved to be named the league’s MVP.

Hurts is currently the odds-on favorite, and it’s easy to see why. The Eagles are a league-leading 12-1, and Hurts leads all NFL quarterbacks with the 108.4 passing rating. He’s thrown 33 touchdown passes and just three interceptions, the best ratio in the league, and also has 686 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. His numbers are also comparable to a MVP seasons from Lamar Jackson and Cam Netwon.

But when Miller mentioned that his Bills teammate Josh Allen and Hurts would be his MVP picks, Parsons sighed and rolled his eyes.

“When you look at Hurts, is it Hurts or the team?” Parsons asked Miller.

“I think it’s a little bit of both,” Miller responded.

“It’s system and team!” Parsons proclaimed.

Parsons’ pointed out that Hurts has been surrounded by talented playmakers on offense, including wide receiver A.J. Brown, who caught his 10th touchdown pass last week and surpassed 1,000 receiving yards this season. By comparison, Parsons noted that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lost his top target during the offseason — wide receiver Tyreek Hill — and is still having an MVP-caliber season.

But it didn’t take Parsons long to realize he was treading in unsafe waters with the Eagles game coming up on Christmas Eve.

“I’m not trying to make no enemies,” Parsons said, before agreeing that Hurts was a “good” quarterback.

“Everyone’s got their own opinion,” Parsons added.

Hurts hasn’t commented on the remarks, but injured Eagles cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson weighed in on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, mocking Parsons’ claim about not wanting to make enemies.

In fairness to Hurts, Parsons, questioned whether the MVP has to be a quarterback at all. He didn’t offer any specific names, but he suggesting it could be a player on one of the top defenses this year, including the Eagles.

“For me, the Eagles defense would be the MVP,” Parsons said. “The offense is raw. but the defense takes everything to a whole other level.”

The last non-quarterback to win the MVP award was former Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006. The last defensive player to win the award was former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor way back in 1986. So it’s been a minute.

Parsons certainly isn’t afraid to offer an opinion. Last week, he blasted President Joe Biden on Twitter for agreeing to a prisoner swap that allowed WNBA star Brittney Griner to return to the U.S. Parsons expressed his disappointment Biden didn’t also bring home Paul Whelan, a former marine who has been detained by Russia since December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

“I just have family who have served and it’s crazy to me the President wouldn’t bring him home too,” Parsons wrote on Twitter. “I’m the furthest thing from a Trump supporter but I’m not a fan of Biden either.”

Later, Parsons apologized for his remarks, writing on Twitter he “should have been more educated on the topic and not tweeted out of emotions.”

» READ MORE: Blood feud begins: Micah Parsons gives Jalen Hurts and Eagles another reason to hate the Cowboys