Gaining respect has been a hard fought battle for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts dating back to his college days at Alabama and Oklahoma and through the entirety of his NFL career.
We might assume — rightly so — that Hurts finally left all those doubters behind after he led the Eagles to a blowout win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX and brought home Super Bowl MVP honors following the 2024 season.
Apparently, that still wasn’t enough, and when you’ve got teammates with Fredo Corleone levels of loyalty around you, who needs enemies? That’s the feeling after NFL All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay went on the “Pick a Side” podcast recently and was asked about which NFL quarterbacks he considered to be among the league’s elite and left Hurts off the list.
“The elite go to the top four guys, that’s how I do elites,” Slay said. “Elite for me, in the quarterback world, is Joe Burrow, (Patrick) Mahomes, Lamar (Jackson) and Josh Allen. Those are the elites.”
Slay starred for the Eagles in their postseason run following the 2024 season, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on March 3 that Slay will be a post-June 1 release in order to save an estimated $4.3 million in salary cap space.
Slay’s List Puts Premium on Individual Honors Over Wins
Slay’s list included three NFL MVP winners with Allen, Mahomes and Jackson but only one Super Bowl champion in Mahomes, who has won 3 Super Bowls and has played in the Super Bowl 5 times in 7 seasons as a starter.
Allen and Jackson have never even made it to the Super Bowl. Burrow made it once, when the Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI.
Hurts has made the Super Bowl twice and finished as runner-up to Mahomes in NFL MVP voting following the 2022 season, when he also lost to Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
Eagles Fans Don’t Take Kindly to Slay’s Perceived Diss
As can be expected, Eagles fans and others didn’t take kindly to Slay leaving his own quarterback off a list of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks following a Super Bowl win.
“Darius Slay has been a clown for years, winning one Super Bowl doesn’t change any of that,” X user Mike Heine wrote on March 6. Thanks for the work you put in on the field in an Eagles uniform, but you’re one of the most unbearable human beings I’ve ever had to root for. Good riddance.”
“Darius Slay is a smart guy,” Chase Senior of Chat Sports wrote on his official X account. “Great teammate, player and leader but some really bad missteps on his part … Not saying Jalen Hurts is an elite QB after he cooked in the NFC Championship and Super Bowl AND won Super Bowl MVP? Just dumb.”
While Slay may have slighted Hurts on his “elites” list, he has praised him in the past — particularly in an article for The Players Tribune in January 2023.
“When it comes to his leadership, it’s crazy for him to be that young … he came into the game already a pro,” Slay wrote. “Like I’m saying, attention to detail. How he watched film, how he talked to the media, how he answered questions. “
