Jalen Hurts’ return and Saquon Barkley’s presence make this the best Eagles team to ever pursue a Super Bowl

Jalen Hurts returned to action Wednesday with the expectation that he will report no post-concussion symptoms Thursday and thereby present himself for duty Sunday afternoon, when the Eagles host the Green Bay Packers.

While the availability of any starting quarterback logically means that the team will be the best version of itself, Hurts’ availability means a bit more. Hurts’ availability means that this Eagles team will be the best version of itself, ever.

That doesn’t guarantee a win in Super Bowl LIX, since the Kansas City Chiefs exist, and nothing is guaranteed; consider the 2007 New England Patriots, unbeaten until their Super Bowl loss. It doesn’t even guarantee a win in the NFC championship game, since the top-seeded Detroit Lions, the Eagles’ most likely opponent, would host that game in three weeks after having enjoyed a bye this weekend.

What Hurts’ availability does mean is that this version of the Eagles is the best Eagles team in history, better prepared than their predecessors to win what would be only the club’s second Super Bowl title in what would be only its fifth appearance.

No, the bar isn’t especially high.

» READ MORE: Futures of Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni are the biggest questions of the playoffs

Nevertheless, these are the best Eagles ever, and, given the quarterback-centric nature of the NFL, Hurts is the biggest reason. Third-year Pittsburgh Steelers castoff Kenny Pickett played well in relief of Hurts, who suffered the first known concussion of his career in the first quarter of Week 16 at Washington. After Pickett got hurt, sixth-round second-year project Tanner McKee did his job. But neither of them is ready for a playoff run against the best group of NFC teams in years.

Hurts is. He has done it before, which is one reason why he’s worth the $255 million he commands. He threw only 18 TD passes this season, and his 193.5 passing yards per game ranks last among the 19 QBs who played at least 15 games, but slinging it doesn’t always mean winning it. He’s figured that out in fits and starts.

Hurts is 37-10 in the last three seasons. His 103.7 passer rating and 68.7% completion rate this year are career highs. His five interceptions are a career low as a full-time starter. These are the markers of a winning quarterback; he chooses high-percentage passes, he does not risk turnovers, and he trusts his running back.

Who wouldn’t? Saquon Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards, the ninth 2,000-yard season in NFL history.

Hurts and Barkley are playing behind the best offensive line the Eagles ever had entering a postseason. Some of the Jason Peters lines in the 2000s might have compared, but those lines were their best before Lane Johnson developed. Johnson has developed now into the best right tackle in the game: Johnson, center Cam Jurgens, and left guard Landon Dickerson all made the Pro Bowl, while left tackle Jordan Mailata, who missed four games to injury, might have been the best offensive lineman in the NFL.

Both Hurts and Barkley also benefited from the presence of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, by far the best receiver tandem in franchise history and possibly the best tandem in the NFL today. After a five-game learning curve, first-year coordinator Kellen Moore has combined these ingredients masterfully.

All of the offensive weapons and strategists benefited from the No. 1 defense in the league, orchestrated by Vic Fangio — who, like Moore, needed about a month to figure out just what he had.

At its core lies the breakout season of Jalen Carter, whose second year made the retirement of Fletcher Cox an afterthought instead of a crisis. Carter was so dominant that he spurred a chicken-or-egg debate regarding whether he made it easier for the linebackers and defensive backs to shine or vice versa. Carter had more impact, of course, but that doesn’t mean the defensive backfield isn’t thrilling. Rookie corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, veteran corner Darius Slay, overachieving safety Reed Blankenship, and wild-card-turned-mentor safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson are about as great as the sum of their parts; that is, they are excellent players producing excellent results.

There have been teams of great promise and disappointment, notably Buddy Ryan’s three defensive juggernauts from 1988-90 that didn’t win anything, but the 2024 team has been something special.

» READ MORE: How the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, Jalen Hurts, and Kellen Moore cost Saquon Barkley the rushing record

So, what about the NFL championship teams of 1948, 1949, and 1960? So, what about them?

Discussion regarding pre-Super Bowl teams, or really any teams until the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, rings hollow, since football was even slower than baseball to integrate. Between outright segregation, enduring quotas after integration, and institutional racism that excluded Blacks from quarterback and other positions — Washington didn’t have a Black player until 1962 — teams intentionally shallowed their talent pool. The pools got deeper after the merger, and the Eagles have gone to the Big Game four times.

Let’s talk about those teams.

Dick Vermeil has a gold jacket, which is something Nick Sirianni might never have, but the featured players on the Hall of Fame coach’s Super Bowl team in 1980 do not compare: quarterback Ron Jaworski, receiver Harold Carmichael, running back Wilbert Montgomery, offensive tackles Jerry Sisemore and Stan Walters, linebacker Bill Bergey, and vastly underappreciated nose guard (and rabid Vermeil critic) Charlie Johnson.

Are all equaled or exceeded by their parallels 45 years later. The biggest difference lies along the offensive line, where 2024’s juggernaut takes your breath away.

This clearly is the second-best team. Andy Reid, now a future Hall of Fame coach, led a team that sent 10 players to the Pro Bowl, including Donovan McNabb, the franchise’s best quarterback, and Terrell Owens, who had the best single season of any Eagles receiver. The biggest advantage of the 2004 team lies at the kicker position, where David Akers’ Pro Bowl 2004 outshines Jake Elliott’s abysmal 2024, and at safety, where Brian Dawkins had the finest of his four All-Pro seasons. The 2004 defense also out-intercepted and out-sacked the 2024 defense, but what would you expect from a Jim Johnson scheme?

However, the current receiver duo, the offensive line, and the running backs have reached a level the 2004 squad cannot approach. And, while the 2004 team made more big plays on defense, it ranked 10th in yards allowed and second in points allowed. The 2024 team ranked first in yards allowed and second in points allowed.

It’s counterintuitive to argue that a team that won a title is lesser in any way than a team that has yet to win a playoff game, but this is an academic exercise, not an empirical comparison. Maybe we’ll undertake that in February, after the postseason plays out. At any rate, this is the easiest of arguments.

As good as Doug Pederson was for three years in Philadelphia, he has been fired for the second time in the last four years, this time in Jacksonville, while Sirianni has been historically good in his first four seasons. Frank Reich might be Moore’s equal, but Fangio’s more accomplished than Jim Schwartz, if not quite as nattily dressed.

Nick Foles is a legend, but legends can be short-lived. Hurts is a far better quarterback. The 2024 team also has better receivers, better running backs, a better offensive line (Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Stefen Wisniewski started on the left side in 2017), a better defensive backfield, and better linebackers. You can give the nod to the defensive line anchored by Cox and Brandon Graham, but that’s about it.

This is the toughest argument of all. How do you compare two 14-3 teams that are largely unchanged? Further, how do you contend that a 2024 team is better than a 2022 team that still included Cox, a borderline Hall of Famer, and Jason Kelce, a surefire Hall of Famer, and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who had 18½ sacks from 2020-21?

Here’s how.

Fangio’s better than Jonathan Gannon. The 2024 defensive backfield is better than the one that included Avonte Maddox and Marcus Epps. Blankenship in his third season is better than Blankenship as a rookie.

Barkley?

He’s just better than everybody.