{"id":81074,"date":"2020-02-20T06:26:27","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T11:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=81074"},"modified":"2020-03-05T14:10:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T19:10:32","slug":"jalen-hurts-2020-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/02\/20\/jalen-hurts-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Hurts 2020 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Jalen Hurts Overview<br \/>\nPosition: <\/strong>Quarterback<br \/>\n<strong>Height<\/strong>: 6\u20192\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight: <\/strong>219 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School<\/strong>: Oklahoma Sooners<\/p>\n<p><strong>Combine Performance Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>40-yard dash<\/strong>: 4.59 seconds (second-best among quarterbacks)<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical jump<\/strong>: 35 inches (tied for fourth-best among quarterbacks)<br \/>\n<strong>Broad jump<\/strong>: 10 feet, 5 inches (tied for best among quarterbacks)<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Jalen Hurts 2020 NFL Draft Profile<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The NFL is becoming more and more favorable towards athletic, dual-threat quarterbacks, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jalen-hurts-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jalen Hurts<\/strong><\/a> has a chance to be a prime beneficiary of this trend. After spending the majority of his college career at Alabama, Hurts spent his final year of eligibility with the Oklahoma Sooners. Taking over for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MurrKy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyler Murray<\/a><\/strong>, Hurts came out of the gate hot. The transfer recorded 508 yards of total offense during his doubt, which was a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n<p>Jalen Hurts had arguably the best season of his career with Oklahoma, completing 69.7% of his passes for 3,851 yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. As if that wasn\u2019t enough, Hurts added another 1,298 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns on the ground. Hurts led his team all the way to the Peach Bowl before losing to LSU and eventual Heisman winner <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/2020\/02\/03\/joe-burrow-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Joe Burrow<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A four-star recruit coming out of high school, Jalen Hurts started his college football career with the Alabama Crimson Tide. It didn\u2019t take long for him to make an impact, as Hurts earned the starting job as during his second game as a true freshman. This made him the youngest quarterback to start for Alabama since <strong>Vince Sutton<\/strong>,\u00a0and Hurts lived up to the hype. The true freshman completed 62.8% of his passes for 2,780 yards, 23 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while adding another 954 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. Hurts remained the starter as a sophomore but started losing playing time to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/2019\/11\/20\/scout-talk-quarterback-tua-tagovailoa-alabama\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Tua Tagovailoa<\/strong><\/a>. Tagovailoa took over as the starter during Hurts\u2019 Junior year, leading to his Senior year transfer.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Electric athlete capable of beating defenses with both his arms and his legs;<\/li>\n<li>Impressive ability to extend plays and make something out of nothing;<\/li>\n<li>Nearly impossible to take down in the open field;<\/li>\n<li>Strong sense of when and where pressure is coming from;<\/li>\n<li>NFL-caliber arm strength, albeit not elite;<\/li>\n<li>Succeeded in two different programs while playing at a high level.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Not the most gifted thrower of the football;<\/li>\n<li>Tends to give up on the play and scramble if the first read isn\u2019t there;<\/li>\n<li>Overall production heavily inflated by scheme\/<strong>Ceedee Lamb<\/strong>;<\/li>\n<li>Questionable delivery might not translate to the NFL;<\/li>\n<li>Inconsistent accuracy needs to improve at the next level;<\/li>\n<li>Ability to extend the play can be a double-edged sword and lead to dangerous decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/K\/KaepCo00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colin Kaepernick<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/colts\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/chargers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miami Dolphins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New England Patriots<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Projection: Early second round<\/p>\n<h3>Jalen Hurts Bottom Line<\/h3>\n<p>Jalen Hurts is a talented playmaker who could thrive in the right scheme. While he\u2019s not the same type of athlete as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/J\/JackLa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lamar Jackson<\/a><\/strong> (nobody is), he could succeed in a similar system. Hurts\u2019 running ability will translate to the NFL, as will his ability to extend the play and sense pressure. His mobility will force defenses to cheat and stop the run, which could lead to open throws in the correct scheme.<\/p>\n<p>However, there\u2019s a reason Hurts isn\u2019t projected to be a top-10 pick. The Oklahoma product needs to improve his accuracy and his ability to read a defense. Back in college, Hurts typically gave up on the play and started scrambling when his first read wasn\u2019t there. That won\u2019t be as effective in the NFL, as the higher level of competition will be able to somewhat limit his big runs. His ability to make plays out of structure is one of his best assets, but he\u2019s going to need to learn when to give up on a play instead of forcing a bad ball into coverage.<\/p>\n<p>If Hurts is going to succeed, he\u2019ll need a creative offensive coordinator capable of maximizing his athletic potential. This is true of all prospects, but it\u2019s especially true of Hurts. If anyone drafts him and tries to turn him into a traditional pocket passer, it\u2019s not going to work. Even if he gets a strong coaching staff, Hurts should probably spend a year on the bench before taking over in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"jNZ_2aDRR2B-NZxMXi5F5Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1196771940\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'jNZ_2aDRR2B-NZxMXi5F5Q',sig:'q4ZbgOJAxIWe2-VVFZx_8PS3oW2FiqeAcAv2YShgn2M=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1196771940',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting for both Alabama and Oklahoma during his collegiate tenure, Jalen Hurts is one of the most athletic quarterbacks entering the 2020 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":81075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[5273,329,330,53,61,56,5865,1056,1501,89,38,40,308],"class_list":["post-81074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2020-nfl-draft","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-football","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jalen-hurts","tag-lamar-jackson","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}