The Eagles have just lost the Superbowl in a heartbreaking fashion. A 10-point half-time lead faded into dust due to a special Patrick Mahomes special half, and a deflating holding call all but sealed their fate. Despite the loss, there’s a modicum of positivity in the camp. Their third-year quarterback who they drafted in the second round just went toe to toe with the best in the league. The future looks bright. He is, however, entering the final year of his rookie contract, and a potential extension is looking.

Should the Eagles pay Jalen Hurts?

This question may sound silly. You’d think paying a quarterback who’s just led his team to an inch away from the Superbowl and finished runner-up in the MVP voting, whatever he wants. He’s clearly earned it right? He’s gonna be a star quarterback for years to come and the Eagles will always be in contention right? But it’s not as simple as that.

Hurts has been impressive this season. Very impressive. He probably wins the MVP if not for the two games he misses with an injury. And even if you don’t believe that he would have deserved the accolade if he stayed healthy, to be in the discussion for MVP means you’ve had an incredible year.

He’s far exceeded the expectations anyone had for him when he was drafted in the 2nd round back in 2020. When he was drafted by the Eagles everyone questioned the pick. Why draft a QB when Wentz was the incumbent starter? Wentz had just led his team to the playoffs and was just a year passed from signing a 4 year $128 million deal. But things can change fast in the NFL and before you know it Wentz was shipped off to Indianapolis.

Now, I don’t want to compare Jalen Hurts exactly to Carson Wentz. The former seems to be an unflappable figure who’s well-respected in the locker room, while the latter seems to have issues everywhere he goes. However, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat and the Eagles would be wise not to rush into an extension and instead weigh up their options.

The Superbowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes, defied the impossible yet again. And no, I’m not talking about his miraculous second half display after hobbling off the field at the end of the first half. But his triumph signaled the first superbowl victory for a team where their starting quarterback amounted to over 15 percent of the cap. Coming in at a staggering 17.16% of the cap, his contract dwarfs that of the runner-up in this statistic, with Tom Brady holding only 12.61% of the cap in his Superbowl campaign with the Buccaneers. It’s very difficult for a team to win the superbowl when paying their quarterback a lot of money, which is why it takes a generational player like Mahomes to be the odd man out.

The Eagles have made the Superbowl twice in the past five years, and on both occasions, their starting Qbs were still on their rookie deals. Being able to pay your Qb so little allows you the chance to stack your team. Hurt’s cap hit for this past season was less than 1% of his team's cap. In fact, he took up less of the cap than his backup, Gardner Minshew. This allowed the team to be aggressive with their spending on other players, as the rookie deal gives them that flexibility. 

If Hurts is to sign an extension that flexibility would be gone. Given the current state of quarterback contracts Hurts is in line to sign somewhere between $47m and $50m. Because as we know, the highest-paid quarterback is usually the next one to get paid. With an extension, this influx of money won’t appear on the cap until 2024, and based on their projections, PFF has the cap at £256m. If Hurts is signed, he’s likely to take up nearly 20% of the cap, which based on recent history would take the Eagles out of Superbowl contention from 2024 onwards, with their only real window being next year when his cap hit is still very low.

Another aspect to ponder will be Hurts’ level of play. We know he’s coming off a great year where he was an MVP contender, but one of the knocks against him being the most valuable player was that he was surrounded by elite talent all around him. He had the best o-line in football in front of him. Two receivers that went for over 1,000 yards each. A running back who put up over 1200 yards. A defensive line that had the third most sacks in NFL history. A secondary that had one cornerback named 2nd team all pro and another named to the pro bowl. And on top of all that, an offensive-minded head coach that knows the importance of situational football and going for it on fourth down. The truth of the matter is, a lot of Qbs would’ve succeeded in this team.

 It can be difficult to separate the player from the team, and I don’t want to discredit Hurts as you can only work with what you’re given, but once he starts losing some of this talent around him there’s no guarantee he’ll maintain his form. And the team's success is already coming at a cost, with OC Shane Steichen accepting the head coaching job.

Hurts’ contract situation becomes very interesting when you see how the Ravens are treating Lamar Jackson. The former MVP has arguably hit a higher ceiling than Jalen Hurts and played at an elite level for several years with much less talent around him, but his team still does not want to give him top-of-the-market money. The Ravens, like the Eagles, are considered one of the smarter teams in the league when it comes to roster building, so their strategy with Lamar may give us some insight into how the Eagles will deal with Hurts.

There are still plenty of reasons to want to pay Hurts. Regardless of the talent around him, he still managed to lead his team to the best record in the NFL and the Superbowl where he played his best game of the season and showed the passing ability that I didn’t think he had (in fact he had PFF’s highest passing grade in Superbowl history). His rushing ability is vital for a modern NFL offense and he carries himself in a way that all great quarterbacks need to. With an unflappable air of confidence toward which players gravitate towards. 

However, once the Eagles pay Jalen Hurts a top-of-the-market contract their margin for error is gone. Hurts isn’t Mahomes, -no one is- and it’s going to become very difficult for the Eagles to get back to the Superbowl once they’ve locked Hurts down. If any team understands the value of building a team around a quarterback on a rookie contract then it’s the Eagles, so why can’t they do it again? Howie Roseman has proved time and again that he’s one of the best GMs in the league, so if decides that they should go back to that rookie contract well, then the team should back him.