Eagles’ Jalen Hurts cuts against the grain of the way we think about the modern pro quarterback

There are two roles that a starting NFL quarterback has to play, and the thing that makes Jalen Hurts fascinating is that he so clearly appears to value one at a time when so many people in and around the NFL appear to value the other.

Generally speaking, the two roles can be boiled down to these titles or categories: centerpiece of the offense and leader of the team. The odd part is that, while both of them are intrinsic to the position, they don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other. We like to think that they do, but they really don’t.

When we think of a quarterback as the centerpiece of the offense, we tend to think of him in terms of his physical abilities. We’re inundated with the jargon. Does this QB have high-level arm talent? Can he make all the throws? What’s his weight transfer like? Does he go through his progressions quickly? Does he have enough eye discipline? Does he deliver the ball on time? Does he throw into tight windows? Does he slide in the pocket? How does he fare on scripted plays versus unscripted plays? How often does he break contain, and when he does, can he make plays on the move?

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This exercise is tons of fun if you’re already a pro scout or coach, aspire to become one, or fancy yourself an amateur evaluator. It’s also the tactile part of judging and projecting whether a quarterback can and will thrive in the NFL. You can see whether he’s nimble on his feet, whether he keeps looking downfield when the pass rush gets close or whether he starts to panic, whether he can complete a 15-yard out from the far-side hashmark, whether his deep ball starts to flutter and wobble as it descends toward his receiver.

Here’s the thing, though: You can break down film until your eyes glaze over, and that footage will likely tell you only so much about whether that quarterback can and will be the leader of the team. And there have been plenty of physically gifted quarterbacks who didn’t and don’t measure up in that role. Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, Jeff George, JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Carson Wentz — to one degree or another, all of them and others showed that there’s more to being a terrific quarterback than being athletic enough to be a terrific quarterback.

The rare QB who is outstanding in both roles becomes one of the all-time greats: Brady, Mahomes, Peyton, Elway, Montana, Marino. That’s the ideal, when a guy who breaks records and a guy whose teammates will walk across hot coals for him happen to be the same guy. Usually, though, there’s a kind of a sliding scale you have to use to assess a quarterback.

Aaron Rodgers is a flake, and plenty of his former teammates acknowledge he’s a flake. But he might be the most skilled player ever at the position. Eli Manning was prone to turnovers and had the mobility of a table napkin. But he was durable as plastic, was often at his best in the biggest of games and moments, and acted as a Kevlar shield against any criticism fired at his coaches and teammates. With quarterbacks, as with life, there are often tradeoffs.

What’s interesting about the manner in which quarterbacks are evaluated nowadays is that those physical traits, those centerpiece-of-the-offense traits, seem to matter much more to fans, media, coaches, and player-personnel executives than the leadership traits do. Maybe this is just my own general impression, and maybe my impression is wrong. But it feels true, and it would make sense if it were true.

Game film is readily available online for anyone to watch and analyze. Over time, through changes in its rules and innovations in the way it markets itself and its players, the NFL has opened up the passing game, increased scoring, and elevated quarterbacks into its biggest stars.

Those stars are protected now more than they were in earlier generations: Defenders are penalized for tackling them too roughly. Coaches and coordinators call plays for them. And the popularity of fantasy football has, for millions of fans, made players’ individual statistics — completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns, quarterbacks provide a lot of statistics — as important or more important than any particular team’s success or the outcome of any particular game.

What’s interesting, in turn, about Hurts is the way in which he seems to cut against that grain. I’m not suggesting that he isn’t skilled. Of course he’s skilled. He has developed into a solid passer, and his leg strength and running ability separate him from most of his peers. (He can squat 600 pounds. Did you know he could squat 600 pounds? Perhaps you hadn’t heard that he can squat 600 pounds.) I’m suggesting that he views himself mostly through that older-school prism, that he regards his leadership as his primary strength and the Eagles’ success as his primary measuring stick.

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How did he get to that point? How did he come to think that way?

“By losing,” he said. “I think it’s as simple as that. You come up short. You learn from it. And you ask yourself, ‘What’s more important?’”

It sounds elementary. Every team wants to win. Every quarterback wants to win. And every quarterback says that he will do whatever it takes to win. Like, duh. But NFL teams don’t pay starting quarterbacks the kind of money the Eagles are paying Hurts — as much as $255 million over the next four years — on intangibles first and foremost. They are paying him to throw a lot of passes and be a superstar and sell jerseys, and they presume victories and Super Bowls will follow. That’s the presumption that the Eagles have made with Hurts. But a quarterback doesn’t have to be a leader to do any of those things. You want proof? Think back to the guy Hurts replaced.