Jalen Hurts

After coming into the season with questions about his long-term viability as a starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts finds himself in prime position to get a lucrative contract extension from the Philadelphia Eagles.

ESPN's Dan Graziano suggests the "floor" for Hurts' next deal has to be Kyler Murray's five-year, $230.5 million contract he signed with the Arizona Cardinals in July.

In addition to the total value, Murray's extension also included a $29 million signing bonus and $189.5 million guaranteed.

Hurts has one year remaining on his rookie contract, but he will be eligible to sign an extension after this season.

When the Eagles made their deal to acquire A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans during the 2022 NFL draft, one prevailing idea that came from it was the front office taking away any potential excuses for Hurts' development as a passer.

In his first full season as the starter in 2021, Hurts was fine throwing the ball. He finished with 3,144 yards, 16 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 61.3 completion percentage. The Oklahoma alum was excellent running the ball, racking up 784 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Per Pro Football Focus' Kevin Cole, Hurts was below average on late-down dropbacks. He also left a poor taste in the mouth of Eagles fans by playing his worst game of the season in a 31-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Game.

Hurts went 23-of-43 for 258 yards with one touchdown and two picks in the postseason game.

The combination of Brown, further development from second-year wideout DeVonta Smith and playing behind the best offensive line in the NFL has helped unlock new aspects of Hurts' game.

Through eight weeks this season, Hurts is averaging 257.0 passing yards per game with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. His rushing efficiency has decreased (3.8 yards per attempt), but that's offset by how much better he's throwing the ball.

Only Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Geno Smith have more total expected points added in low-leverage plays than Hurts' 40.7 this season.

There's certainly some risk still attached to giving Hurts a massive extension. The Eagles have arguably the NFL's best roster, so what happens when those circumstances change?

It wasn't that long ago when Eagles fans thought Carson Wentz was a franchise quarterback because the 2017 roster was possibly the best in the NFL.

Hurts certainly looks better now than Wentz did for most of his tenure in Philadelphia, but any long-term quarterback deal carries significant risk.

Ultimately, it's hard to argue that Hurts hasn't done enough to warrant being Philadelphia's starting quarterback for many years to come.

ProFootballTalk's Peter King handed out his midseason awards Monday, and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen took home MVP ahead of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley.

King wrote:

"Allen, best player on the best team having his best season, beat the former MVP and Super Bowl winner (Mahomes) on his turf in week six ('Josh Allen feels impossible to play against,' the former Kansas City tackle, Mitchell Schwartz, tweeted Sunday night. Schwartz is right.)"

It's hard to argue with the selection. Allen, 26, has led the Bills to a 6-1 record, throwing for 2,198 yards, 19 touchdowns and six interceptions in seven games and completing 65.5 percent of his passes. He's also rushed for 306 yards and two touchdowns.

Hurts may give him a run for his money. He's led the Eagles to a 7-0 record, throwing for 1,799 yards, 10 scores and just two picks while rushing for 303 yards and six touchdowns. The Eagles are the lone undefeated team in the NFL, and the play of Hurts has been a big reason.

Allen has looked like an MVP, though, and the Bills don't appear likely to slow down anytime soon. But a lot of football is left to be played.

The rich got richer this week when the NFL's only undefeated team, the Philadelphia Eagles, acquired veteran edge-defender Robert Quinn from the Chicago Bears as they gear up for a Super Bowl run under the tutelage of MVP-contending quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Philadelphia leads the NFC by a wide margin when it comes to DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), per Football Outsiders, and the team's average margin of victory (9.3 points per game) is more than double that of the conference's next-highest-ranked squad (Dallas Cowboys, 4.2 PPG).

With A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert and Miles Sanders working with Hurts at the skill positions and Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce anchoring the offensive line for the league's fourth-highest-scoring offense, and with Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, Darius Slay and James Bradberry all starring for the league's fourth-ranked scoring defense, nobody is doubting the 2022 Eagles—especially now that the veteran Quinn is on board.

But what's got to scare the rest of that division, conference and league is that this Eagles team looks built to last well beyond 2022 and 2023, when Hurts' rookie contract expires.

Obviously, Hurts' future will have a tremendous impact on how competitive Nick Sirianni's team is as we enter the middle of the decade, but the franchise tag will of course remain on the table if he's a superstar. And still, the Eagles aren't a team that went all-in for a year or two. General manager Howie Roseman has done a masterful job rebuilding an organization that won just four games two years ago, and plenty of critical pieces are in place for long-term success.

As ESPN's Adam Schefter pointed out, even after this week's trade that sent a fourth-round draft pick to Chicago, the Eagles possess six selections in the 2023 draft—including two in the first round as a result of a deal with the New Orleans Saints. That trade with New Orleans also gives them an additional second-round pick in 2024, and they have the Minnesota Vikings' fifth-rounder that year as well.

Per Spotrac, right now, only three teams have more salary-cap space than the Eagles, who don't technically have to worry about paying a quarterback premium until at least 2024. They're not projected at the moment to be in any sort of cap purgatory this or next offseason, and Brown, Smith, Goedert and Johnson are all under contract through at least the 2025 campaign.

That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of work to be done. Graham, Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce are all in contract years in their 30s, and Bradberry and Sanders are also scheduled to hit free agency this coming offseason. But Roseman has proved he's developed a Midas touch with recent offseason/in-season moves involving Hurts (who wasn't widely viewed as a long-term NFL starter entering the league as a second-round pick), Slay (who appears to be getting better with age) and Bradberry (who's having a ridiculous season on a cheap one-year contract), as well as Smith, Reddick, Brown and pleasant preseason addition C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Roseman's guidance alone should instill confidence in Eagles fans that the window is wide-open and will remain that way for longer than teams that understandably sacrifice the long term while chasing short-term glory.

Besides, there's already plenty of younger talent on the roster to be excited about in the event those veterans move on. Landon Dickerson, Jordan Mailata, Jordan Davis, Gardner-Johnson, Milton Williams and Quez Watkins are all factors and no older than 25.

Of course, so much of it comes down to Hurts himself. If the third-year breakout star can continue down this path, there's almost no way he won't remain an Eagle for at least three or four more seasons. Likely more because 20-something-year-old franchise quarterbacks rarely move, but beyond that window, he could of course become so expensive that the remainder of the roster would take a hit.

That's always been a catch-22 with star quarterbacks, but the important thing right now is that the barely-24-year-old is the NFC's second-highest-rated passer while ranking second in the NFL with six rushing touchdowns. The Eagles offense has been tailor-made for his unique skill set, but he's also developed a much better ability to make big throws in big moments within the structure of that offense.

The Buffalo Bills remain the favorite to win this year's Super Bowl. The Eagles could absolutely change that, but even if they don't, it won't be doomsday for this team anytime soon.