3x Super Bowl Champ dissects $255,000,000 QB’s game, explains why Russell Wilson fell short

The unselfishness of Jalen Hurts has enabled the Philadelphia Eagles to be hugely successful this season.

That’s according to Mark Schlereth, a former NFL player turned analyst, who believes that the NFC champions are where they are in part because they’ve been able to manage reps from their star players like Hurts.

On Breakfast Ball, Schlereth said: "I’ll give a ton of credit to Jalen Hurts for not being selfish. For understanding that the best way for us to be successful is to take it out of my hands occasionally and let the other guys do the work."

At the same time, the panel acknowledged that it may be easier for him to take the ball out of his hands more often after receiving a massive five-year, $255 million contract ($180 million guaranteed) in April 2023.

In their blowout victory over the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game (55-23), the Eagles pivot handed the ball off to five different players, including 15 times to Saquon Barkley, who had three touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, Hurts, the Eagles’ second-round pick in 2020 went 20/28 for 246 yards and a score last Sunday.

Eagles learning from the mistakes the Seahawks made with Russell Wilson

The success of Jalen Hurts behind center has drawn comparisons to Russell Wilson, who became a household name for the Seattle Seahawks years ago.

According to Schlereth, there’s a good lesson that teams like the Eagles can learn from Wilson’s struggles in his final year in Seattle.

"All those years in Seattle, let Russ cook, let Russ cook, let Russ do this, let Russ do that, and ultimately that was the demise, according to the former three-time Super Bowl champion.

"When it was taken out of Pete Carroll’s hands, it became more about Russ; that’s when Seattle started to fall off, and that’s when Russ started to fall off."

In his final season with the Seahawks, Wilson had a losing record for the first time in his career as a starting quarterback, going 6-8.

Since leaving Seattle, his passer rating has been below 100 in each of his last three seasons.

Hurts had fewer than 3,000 yards passing in the 2024 regular season (2,903) and made fewer pass attempts than in any previous campaign (248) where he’s started more than 10 games.

It’s resulted in him achieving his highest completion percentage as an NFL QB (68.7) and passer rating (103.7).

Thanks to that, the Eagles boasted a 12-3 record in 2024 and are in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons.