Former Alabama Football QB Jalen Hurts the steal of the NFL Draft

With the first round of the NFL Draft over, former Alabama Football quarterback Jalen Hurts must still wait to find out where his next chapter will play out.

The first round of the NFL Draft was held virtually last night. Alabama football players did well with four picks in the first 15 selections. Expectedly, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Joe Burrow as the first overall pick of the draft. Bengals fans expect Burrow to be given the keys to the program in hopes of bringing them back to a playoff win for the first time in decades.

The second quarterback chosen was Alabama Football’s own, Tua Tagovailoa. The Miami Dolphins’ year long “Tanking for Tua” campaign worked as the Dolphins made Tua’s dreams a reality last night.

The Los Angeles Chargers chose Oregon’s Senior Bowl MVP, Justin Herbert, as the third quarterback taken from the board. Herbert has the task of becoming the Chargers’ franchise quarterback in replacing former quarterback Philip Rivers.

What happened next at the quarterback position was nothing short of a travesty. The Green Bay Packers traded up to draft a backup quarterback to sit behind veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers. They drafted former Utah State quarterback Jordan Love.

They drafted a quarterback who led the FBS in 2019 in interceptions over Jalen Hurts, a quarterback who led two different teams to the CFB Playoff in consecutive seasons. They drafted a player whose stats were never overly impressive against worse competition and struggled even worse against teams with a winning record. Love regressed from his 2018 to 2019 seasons while Hurts did nothing but improve throughout his collegiate career.

While Jalen Hurts style may not have been a good fit in Green Bay, Hurts should have been the fourth quarterback chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft. Green Bay had more pressing needs than a backup quarterback and should have passed on Love.

Now, we await rounds two and three, wondering where Hurts will end up. Hurts is a steal for any team still needing a quarterback. Hurts is a proven competitor. Any team can be certain that no player would work harder, and no player wants it more than Hurts.

Hurts is no stranger to having to wait his turn and isn’t scared of having to prove himself. In a recent interview with former OC Mike Locksley on his new Instagram Live series “Late Night with Locks“, Locksley recounted a story where Jalen and Locks were leaving a quarterback meeting when both had first arrived on campus with the Alabama Football team. Locks said that after the meeting, Jalen hung back for a few moments and told him that he wanted him to know that he (Jalen) was going to “make all these guys leave”. Jalen was referring to Cooper Bateman, David Cornwell, and Blake Barnett.

Two seasons later, none of those names could be found on the roster anymore. Jalen is confident, not cocky, and knows his worth. After being benched in the national championship game, Jalen could have thrown in the towel. He, of course, didn’t. He kept working and kept supporting his team. During that time while Tua was starting, Jalen grew leaps and bounds.

The Jalen who was benched in the National Championship game against Georgia was not the same Jalen who came out to save the day in the SEC Championship against Georgia the following year.

He improved drastically on his accuracy and his decision making. He made consecutive, third down conversions by scrambling out of the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. Rather than giving up when he was told he wasn’t good enough (despite a 26-2 record), he worked even harder and became a better quarterback because of it.

This past season at Oklahoma under Lincoln Riley he improved even more. He played better against the LSU defense in the Playoff than Georgia’s Jake Fromm did in the SEC Championship game. If Fromm is drafted before Hurts in the later rounds, I’ll have another rant ready.

Jalen Hurts is the steal of the draft. He will thrive in a physical offense where he could sit behind a veteran quarterback for a few years. Hurts is a willing learner and a fierce competitor.

I wish him all the millions for all the loyalty he showed Alabama Football over the years. Keep working, Jalen Hurts.