What they’re saying: Joe Montana joins Jalen Hurts ranking debate; former Eagles Super Bowl champ says Bucs will unseat Birds

Way too much ink has been spilled over where Jalen Hurts ranks among the league’s top quarterbacks. Even as the 2025 season is about to get underway, there’s still no real consensus on where the reigning Super Bowl MVP should fall on a top-10 list — or if he should even be included at all.

Joe Montana, for his part, told Pat McAfee Tuesday that Hurts was fourth on his list of which quarterback he’d pick to start a franchise, behind Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert (while Patrick Mahomes was suspiciously absent).

Meanwhile, NFL.com ranked Hurts 11th on its weekly list of best quarterbacks, behind Herbert, Jayden Daniels, and CJ Stroud, among others, and one spot ahead of Geno Smith. In fact, Hurts was nearly in the third tier of QBs, a group that includes Bo Nix and Sam Darnold, on writer Nick Shook’s weekly ranking. But at least he knew what he was getting into.

“Jalen Hurts’ ranking will send a fresh batch of angry Eagles fans to my DMs,” he wrote. “He can climb this list if Philly avoids the tumult that defined its passing game for a decent chunk of the 2024 season.”

» READ MORE: Eagles power rankings roundup: Here’s where the defending champions stand heading into the 2025 season

On Thursday, the Eagles finally have the opportunity to let their performance on the field do the talking as they officially start their Super Bowl title defense — just don’t tell them it’s a defense.

“We’re the 2024 world champs, that’s it. We’re not defending [expletive],” Jordan Mailata said on the first day of training camp. “I don’t like hearing we’re the defending champions. We’re not defending nothing.”

They may not see it that way, but many among the national media do. After the Eagles’ win in Super Bowl LII, the Birds didn’t make it back to the big game until Super Bowl LVII, and then again two years later.

Much of the core group that brought the Eagles their second Super Bowl win is still in the building, but they’ve also seen some changes on the offensive and defensive lines. One former Eagle is already hesitant to pick the Birds to make it back to the big game.

“The team that is easiest for me to place in the Super Bowl is on the NFC side,” Super Bowl LII champion Chris Long said on his Green Light podcast. “The AFC is a little tough for me to figure. I’d say the Bucs are going to the Super Bowl this year. Here’s the class of the NFC to me: the Bucs, the Packers, the Eagles, the Lions, and the Commanders, in no particular order. The NFC is spicy. Now, the reason I like the Bucs is because they match up well against the Eagles, who will be fully formed at that point in January. Honestly, I think they have a great roster top to bottom.”

In order to calculate their Football Power Index ratings, ESPN simulates the NFL season 10,000 times. In the one of those simulations that ESPN randomly chose to write up, the Eagles, along with the Chiefs, Commanders, and Packers, all missed the playoffs, with the Cowboys winning the division instead.

In a simulation, anything is possible, I guess.

» READ MORE: Eagles are favorites vs. Cowboys — and in the NFC East — but not to win the Super Bowl

Back in the real world, the Ringer rated the Eagles’ defense, the league’s best in 2024, at No. 3 heading into the year, behind the Seahawks and the Texans, citing concerns about depth, the pass rushers, and the secondary.

“Given all the concern, why do I still have Philadelphia ranked so high?” Sheil Kapadia wrote. “One, we all saw what Fangio did in year one with the Eagles. I trust him to figure things out. And two, they still have a bunch of guys — Jalen Carter, Zack Baun, Mitchell, Cooper DeJean — who are capable of turning in All-Pro seasons. Yes, the Eagles have concerns. But they are mostly first-world concerns. I still see the potential for a great defense.”