Reasons for giving Jalen Hurts the MVP trophy over Patrick Mahomes

Jalen Hurts might be the NFL’s best dual-threat quarterback.

Ball security is often taken into consideration when we discuss MVP candidates. That will no doubt fuel the discussion again when it’s time to determine who this season’s most valuable player will be, but what sets Jalen Hurts apart from Mahomes is what he’s done with his legs. Both can scramble, but Hurts is as gifted as anyone in the open field with the ball in his hands. He’s on par with some of the best runners in the game regardless of position.

This season, Jalen Hurts has more rushing yards on his resume than both Najee Harris and Ezekiel Elliott. He has scored more rushing touchdowns than Joe Mixon and Saquon Barkley. Keep in mind the fact that he isn’t strictly a runner.

Jalen has thrown for more yards than Lamar Jackson. He has more passing touchdowns than Tom Brady. He’s also developed a beautiful deep ball. According to Next Gen Stats, he has a passer rating of 131.6 on throws 20 yards or deeper down the right side of the field. That’s better than the league average (78.0). Oh, and get this. That’s substantially better than Mahomes who has a mark of 86.2.

We mentioned PFF and turnover-worthy plays earlier. Jalen Hurts has only had 1.7% of his plays deemed turnover worthy. While Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert leads the league with 1.5%. Herbert’s divisional rival and MVP frontrunner, Patrick Mahomes, has had 2.2% of his plays fall under the umbrella of being turnover-worthy. That number is seventh among quarterbacks who have started more than five games in 2022.