Adam Schefter Questions Why Jalen Hurts Is Under Fire While Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert Escape Contract Heat

Adam Schefter of ESPN is calling for the media to level the playing field by giving the same criticism to other high-paid quarterbacks who haven’t won a Super Bowl, just like they do with Jalen Hurts.

Adam Schefter Questions Why Jalen Hurts Is Under Fire While Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert Escape Contract Heat

Jalen Hurts and Justin Herbert (Image via IMAGO)

In Short
  • Adam Schefter criticizes the media for focusing scrutiny on Jalen Hurts while Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert receive less attention.
  • Hurts led the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory, yet faced harsh criticism after a playoff loss, unlike Burrow and Herbert.
  • Eagles' offensive struggles are attributed to multiple factors, not solely Hurts, according to veteran Eagles writer Reuben Frank.

Adam Schefter is growing weary of the ongoing scrutiny of Jalen Hurts. The veteran ESPN insider wants to see football experts treat Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert in the same manner.

All three signed big contracts with their teams, and yet only Hurts won a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles. During that time, Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers crashed out of the wildcard round in consecutive years, while Burrow failed to lead the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs at all (since 2022).

Last year, the Eagles won their division and faced the San Francisco 49ers in the postseason. Despite starting as the heavy favorites, they suffered a narrow 23-19 defeat. Hurts avoided harsh criticism at the expense of Kevin Patullo (former OC), but a recent ESPN report went after the 27-year-old without holding back.

The report includes Hurts displaying poor body language, coming off as “uncoachable,” changing calls midway through a drive, and refraining from throwing tough passes. Schefter shared his views on the matter by adding an intriguing observation.

What I find interesting, and it’s just some food for thought here, when we think about it as we go along, we’ve spent an awful lot of time talking about Jalen Hurts, right? And that’s fair, I got it. Big deal, polarizing figure to an extent, but [Joe] Burrow and [Justin] Herbert did their contract two weeks after Jalen Hurts. Why isn’t anybody asking why they’re not extending yet?

Schefter said on 97.5 The Fanatic.

Veteran Eagles writer isn’t a fan of media only blaming Jalen Hurts for the team’s struggles in the offense

Hurts appeared in 16 games last year. In those games, he racked up 294 completions on 454 passing attempts for 3224 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. Additionally, Hurts rushed 105 times to gain 421 yards and scored 8 touchdowns.

Adam Schefter Questions Why Jalen Hurts Is Under Fire While Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert Escape Contract Heat
Jalen Hurts (Image via IMAGO)

Aside from boasting a cerebral red zone attack, the Eagles ranked in the bottom half in nearly every metric in 2025. According to FOX Sports, the Eagles’ offense ranked 24th in the league with an average of 311.2 yards per game and converted just 37.1% of their third-down chances (24th best).

All of those numbers steeply declined in the wildcard loss to the Niners. Veteran Eagles writer Reuben Frank of NBC Sports noted that Hurts is not the sole reason behind the team’s offensive struggles. It was rather an amalgamation of poor play calling from Patullo, lack of imagination and innovation in the route running, opponents figuring out Saquon Barkley‘s strategies, and, of course, Hurts’ dwindling partnership with wide receiver AJ Brown. So, it’s not fair to only blame Hurts.

Anybody who tries to pin the Eagles’ offensive issues in 2025 on any one person or one thing was just not paying attention. It was a group effort. That was obvious. That, and I would never consider a Super Bowl MVP quarterback who has strong feelings about what the offense should look like a negative. Don’t we want a decisive, strong-willed guy running the show?

Frank wrote

It appears that the Eagles’ front office has bought into the idea that they need to see more from Hurts in the upcoming season before offering him a new contract. Hurts will earn roughly $51 million in 2026 and has a dead cap hit of $31.97 million.

Also Read: