Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) practices before Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee
Jalen Hurts has his detractors. He also proved a lot of them wrong with his performances in the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl. Some have come around on Hurts. Others continue to refute his success, by mentioning how good the weapons are around him and how the Eagles' passing offense underperformed during the middle of the season.
Someone that doesn't want to be caught in the drama is Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. During the Fanatics Fest in New York City, Manning was on a panel with his brother Eli, C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams. Manning seemingly was asked to list his top quarterbacks in the NFL, which he refused to do. Why is that? Because of Hurts.
"I named five guys and Jalen Hurts texted me 20 minutes later, 'I didn't make your list?'" Manning said in a clip posted by The New York Post this weekend. "So, no list today."
Peyton Manning refused to give his Top 5 QB list after Jalen Hurts texted him last year. 👏🤣 pic.twitter.com/HemHAYykmq
Manning is referring to when he named his top five quarterbacks at the same event last year. That included Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
It's hard to argue with Manning's list from 2024. Herbert is the one name that sticks out, though that could be recency bias. The Los Angeles Chargers' signal caller had a good regular season, but threw four interceptions in the Wild Card round versus the Houston Texans. The other four names are the consensus best quarterbacks in the league, and Hurts clearly wanted to be that fifth name.
What's interesting is Hurts doesn't have an in-your-face personality. He's not very outspoken and usually keeps to himself, even when he gets heavily criticized. So him reaching out to Manning and questioning him is of note.
Hurts' relationship with Manning dates back to his high school days, when he attended the Manning QB camp. In 2021, he told ESPN's Tim McManus and other local reporters that they maintained a relationship and that Manning would send him clips to show the importance of details when playing quarterback. Based on that, Hurts seems to value that relationship.
Whether Manning wasn't going to name Hurts again as one of the top five quarterbacks is unknown. The Eagles' quarterback clearly rattled Manning into not stirring up any drama this time around.
"I'm a quarterback defender, I'm a quarterback fan. I know how hard it is for someone to play quarterback. I pull hard for quarterbacks, so no list this year," Manning said.
Lists are always controversial. NBC's Chris Simms stirred the pot again, when he ranked Hurts 10th earlier this summer. Hurts really doesn't seem to pay attention to any of the outside noise. What's important is winning, and Hurts has done a lot of that since he's been in the league, leading the Eagles to two Super Bowl appearances.
However, because of his connection with Manning, Hurts may have been a little bummed out by not being in his top five last summer. It's clear Manning didn't want to cause any drama this time around, because he knew Hurts would be paying close attention.
