The Jalen Hurts Debate and the Fantasy Football-ification of...uhh...Football
When you get so frustrated by the Jalen Hurts debate that you start a Substack
Preseason football is here baby! No longer do I have to spend my free time watching reruns of the 2024 Pop-A-Shot Competition on ESPN20. It’s time to fall in love with a practice squad running back and convince myself that Ty Robinson is the next Aaron Donald.
Unfortunately, as the NFL offseason winds down, the NFL community is steeped in an online debate around our dear QB1 Jalen Hurts. Now listen, let me start by saying I’m on Twitter too much. It’s a love (see: Coldplay CEO Cheating Scandal), hate (see: Musk, Elon) relationship. So, whether I like it or not (I do not for the record) I’ve been overexposed to the conversation around Jalen Hurts and his worthiness to sit among the NFL’s elite.
I’m not here to argue that Jalen Hurts is a top ten quarterback (although in full transparency, I think he is). I’m not here to argue for the respect of a College Football National Champion, Heisman Finalist, 2022 MVP Candidate, 2x Super Bowl participant, 1x Super Bowl Winner, and Super Bowl MVP. I’m not here to discuss the duality of the expectations on Black quarterbacks (see: Josh Allen MVP over Lamar Jackson) and how the ability to sacrifice individual accomplishments and hold the team first are seen as strengths for some quarterbacks and weaknesses for others. What I am here to argue is that the Jalen Hurts debate as a lightning rod issue is a reflection of the current landscape of sports analysis and how we as a culture have come to consume football.
Sports analysis is at a crossroads. I grew up watching old games on NFL Network over summer break. Humming Sam Spence soundtracks as Terry Bradshaw ripped a pass to John Stallworth against Staubach and the Cowboys. We’re drawn to sports because of the stories. The narratives that build players into heroes. A shared history of mythological figures. Football, in general, teaches us a lot about the world around us. It’s a microcosm of our society. But unfortunately, the narratives around football in general have begun to flatten.
As an avid fan of Easy Money Sniper Twitter trolling, I’ve seen how the NBA has fallen victim to ring culture. Assigning a player value solely based on the championships they’ve won, completely ignoring the nuances of decorated playing careers. Football is dealing with the polar opposite. A Fantasy Football-ification of the sport. Players are judged solely based on statistics rather than the context of their accomplishments.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the advent of the adoption of data analytics in football has been overall positive for individual teams and adding color to the way fans experience the game. When used appropriately, the data can add context to the stories that unfold before our eyes. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the numbers became the whole story.
The proliferation of fantasy sports, gambling, and a 24-hour content cycle has resulted in half-baked hot takes for clicks, underdeveloped storylines, and unnecessary player comparison and devaluation, and halfhearted debates. That’s not an inherent issue with the data. It’s an issue with the way analysts use it. We’ve reached a point where some analysts are discussing the game through data they don’t understand. My favorite sports journalists (i.e. Mina Kimes, Sheil Kapadia, Ben Solak, and more) use the data combined with what they see to fully flesh out a narrative. Other folks use the data to drive a debate for clicks.
Now in full transparency, I have like 5 fantasy football teams (yes I have a problem get off my back reader!) so I know the stranglehold points per reception have on the general public. But at this point in time we have dudes who don’t know how to use stats using data to make a point they don’t care about. Do I need to see Rodney Harrison squeeze into a suit on a pregame show that takes itself too seriously to tell me about ADoT (sorry for the stray Rodney). The numbers have become the story.
The story of Jalen Hurts, like many other players, is bigger than the data leads us to believe (did you know Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in negative rushing yards). It’s the story of a much heralded quarterback who time after time rose to the occasion that met him. A much heralded second round pick who was brought in to backup a supposed franchise savior. Who, year after year, continued to grow as a player to do what the team demanded of him. Who’s grit and relentlessness match the spirit of the city that drafted him.
So as I stand here on my South Philly soapbox, my hope is that we see a return to form in the way we report the game of football. That the casual viewer watches the game beyond the stats to embrace the beauty of the game. A game built on the journey of heroes and legends. Lombardis and Montanas. Comebacks and downfalls. These narratives are some of the only myths we have left. Less hot takes look for clout and engagement and more mythmaking.
Are these just the ramblings of a Jalen Hurts apologist? I plead the fifth! All I know is that as the heat dies down and fall rears its beer-soaked head towards South Philadelphia, the season will unfold to deliver us a new champion. But the story of the 2025 Eagles and the quarterback that led them is forever.