As another NFL season gets underway, the league’s social media account put out a graphic that very much confirms that the narratives surrounding certain players will remain the same. Jalen Hurts will continue to be one of the most disrespected Super Bowl MVPs in history.
The caption reads, “The journey to the Lombardi starts today 👀.” It sits above a graphic of 32 players representing each NFL team. The players featured appear to be the best or most well-known players on each team.
They are staring up at a huge Lombardi Trophy sitting atop SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the site of this season Super Bowl on Feb. 14, 2027.
Fans Question Why Saquon Barkley Is On NFL Promo Tweet, Not Jalen Hurts
Standing among players closest to the Lombardi Trophy is quarterback Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Saquon Barkley representing the Philadelphia Eagles. Most of the players represented were quarterbacks and clearly are the most important components to their team. Sam Darnold and Drake Maye, the two signal callers meeting tonight to begin the season, were prominently featured for their respective teams.
Franchise quarterback Hurts, who has been to two Super Bowls with the Eagles, was passed over for Barkley. Fans of Hurts didn’t miss the slight.
“Leaving off Hurts was nasty work,” one Eagles fan commented on X.
“How you put Barkley there and leave Jalen off. He gonna have to win again to get a little respect,” one Threads user commented in response to the same post.
Saquon is a very popular player in Philly and helped them win a Super Bowl, but Hurts is the straw that stirs that drink. He’s the clear leader of that squad. He gets paid to be that. And he wins games. The only thing he lacks is gaudy passing numbers, and for some reason, fans and talking heads think hollow numbers without hardware means something. Not at the quarterback position. It’s not a signal caller’s job to look good. His job is to get the W by any means neccessary.
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Fans were coming with all kinds of conspiracy theories and predictions based on the graphic. With some suggesting that the positioning of the teams and players are somehow tied to a script with pre-determined results.
“Saquon & Trevor Lawrence up front. Green in the Super Bowl logo for both teams. Eagles-Jags Super Bowl confirmed,” one fan captioned above a screen shot of Barkley and Lawrence standing side by side.
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The good news for Hurts is that people believe in the Eagles. The bad news is that some will push the narrative that the Eagles are winning despite him. Even if he has a solid passing season without the departed AJ Brown. With Brown gone, rumors of locker room friction will be harder to substantiate.
NFL.com ranked Hurts as the 14th-best QB in the league and ranked him No. 56 on the Top 100 Players rankings for 2026. He has earned some respect. But the criticisms outweigh the compliments.
Last season, the passing yards weren’t there but he was very productive. Hurts had 3,224 passing yards, 25 TDs, eight rushing scores and threw just six picks. The three-time Pro Bowl quarterback also posted a 98.5 passer rating.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ 2025–26 season ended abruptly in the NFC wild card round with a 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The turmoil that surrounded the team and the hyperfocus on the offense and its inability to produce big plays led to defeat. Hurts led a 94-yard drive in the second quarter and struggled from that point. Trailing by four points late in the fourth quarter, Hurts threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-11 to tight end Dallas Goedert with under three minutes remaining, that ended a comeback attempt.
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Hurts has another offensive coordinator in Sean Mannion. Sunday’s opener against the Washington Commanders will verify reports from training camp that Hurts has “bought into” Mannion’s Shanahan-McVay style scheme that requires him to operate more from under center. The success of the offense is based on run heavy play-action, and throwing frequently over the middle. With the departure of Brown this will probably be former Heisman winner Devonta Smith’s most productive season.
Smith has recorded three 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his career, including 77 receptions for 1,008 yards in 2025.
Hurts’ ability to grasp the offense is already being challenged based on his preseason results. “First Things First” host Danny Parkins doesn’t think Hurts can do it.
“I don’t know if he’s a talented enough three-level thrower of the football to actually execute this offense in the way that they seem to want him to be doing it based on training camp,”Parkins explained.
This might be Jalen’s biggest challenge, and it doesn’t hurt to have a chip on his shoulder entering a pivotal season. Featuring Saquon on that list has got to tick him off on the low.
The truth is, there hasn’t been a point in Hurts’ career where he played poorly in the big game and the Eagles won. He has to play brilliantly for them to win a Super Bowl. And what that looks like to the Eagles might still be much different than what NFL fans want to see.
