A close competition! Not only Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts’ height are the same (6 ft); many think they are quite similar in games and representations as well. For instance, their passing percentage is close to each other, with Purdy having 69.4 and Hurts having 65.4 per cent. But they have been voted quite far from each other in a recent NFL top 100 players ranking list. And probably that’s why NFL analyst Emmanuel Acho is hurt!

In a recent episode of Speak on Thursday, August 1, 2024, Acho and his other co-hosts, LeSean McCoy, Joy Taylor, and James Jones, debated on the accuracy of players’ rankings on the NFL top 100 list. Acho, who didn’t appear happy with Purdy’s ranking at 28, expressed, “What [Brock] Purdy did over the last two years, he’s the only quarterback (not named Patrick Mahomes) to go to championship games in back-to-back years. What Purdy did over the last two years is worthy of him being in the top 20.” According to him, Purdy has reached a similar fate to Mahomes by entering into the Super Bowl last year.

Acho also compared Purdy’s seasons to Jalen Hurts, who is ranked at 15 in the NFL list voted by the fellow players. He argues that “if Hurts is 15, I want to see Purdy at 14. If Hurts is 28, I want to see Purdy at 29. They need to be right there, neck and neck.” According to him, both quarterbacks nearly won MVPs and took their teams to the Super Bowl with talented offenses. Acho believes neither is a “game changer” but rather a “game manager” who maximizes their teams’ potential.

However, Jones then questioned the former NFL linebacker if he saw Purdy above the Eagles quarterback, to which Acho responded by putting in front Mr. Irrelevant’s stats. He emphasized that based on a two-year sample size, both quarterbacks have performed similarly well. However, he hinted that Purdy is slightly better as he is the only quarterback besides Patrick Mahomes to reach championship games in back-to-back years. Acho feels Purdy’s performance, including his impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio (35-6) as a rookie, justifies ranking him among the top 20 quarterbacks.

Well, Acho’s highlighted points might be correct, as if we look at stats, they are indeed close to each other.

Why is Brock Purdy ranked below Jalen Hurts?

If we see the passing touchdowns of Jalen Hurts in the 2023 season, he registered 23 TDs. While, on the other hand, Brock Purdy recorded 31 TDs last year. Similarly, when we analyze passing yards, Purdy in this too has a slight edge (4,280) over Hurts’ 3,858. Despite being one up, Purdy is ranked not even in 20s, and is 13 rank below the Eagles’ quarterback. But why is it so? Well, the answer to this ranking difference might be the experience gap between the two.

Hurts, who was drafted in 2020, has played four seasons in his NFL career, whereas Purdy has played two seasons in the league. Additionally, when we compare his rushing stats with the 49ers quarterback, Hurts is above the young QB in almost every section. Be it yards (605), touchdowns (15), or yards/attempts (3.9), the 25-year-old is one up with the Super Bowl runner-up QB (144, 2, and 3.7, respectively).

Perhaps, that’s the reason why Hurts is above a few ranks than Purdy after 2023 performance.