CINCINNATI — Jalen Hurts was in the conversation. Name the league’s elite quarterbacks after the Eagles lost the Super Bowl a couple seasons ago and you couldn’t do so without mentioning him. He had finished second in the MVP voting and he had been the best player on the NFL’s biggest stage even though Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs left the Arizona desert with a second Lombardi Trophy that night.
Hurts was still in the conversation more than midway through last season. In fact, after he accounted for five touchdowns and beat Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills at home, the Eagles were 10-1 and the oddsmakers had the fourth-year quarterback posted as the betting favorite for the MVP award.