Jalen Hurts Slides to No. 56 in NFL Top 100 of 2026, His Lowest Ranking Since Rookie Debut
Jalen Hurts is still on the NFL Top 100. He’s just not on it the way he used to be.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback landed at No. 56 in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026, according to NFL.com, marking his fourth straight appearance on the annual list voted on by current players. It’s also his lowest slot yet. Hurts debuted at No. 3 in 2023 fresh off a Super Bowl LVII run. He’s dropped every year since: 15th in 2024, 19th in 2025, and now 56th entering this season.
That’s a 53-spot fall in two years for a quarterback who won Super Bowl LIX MVP honors as recently as February 2025.
The numbers explain some of the skepticism. Hurts threw for 3,224 yards and a career-high 25 touchdowns in 16 starts last season, but his 7.1 yards per attempt was a career low, and his 55.2 QBR was his worst mark since 2021, according to Bleacher Report. He also gained a league-low 39.6% of his passing yards after the catch in 2025, per NFL.com’s Pro Insight data attached to the ranking — a stat that points to a passing game leaning heavily on short, low-risk throws rather than pushing the ball downfield.
Then came the offseason gut punch. A.J. Brown, Hurts’ top target for four seasons, was traded to the New England Patriots on June 1 for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder, according to ESPN. Brown had voiced growing frustration with his role in Philadelphia’s offense throughout 2025, and the split became one of the most-telegraphed trades of the offseason.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler called 2026 a “crucial year” for Hurts, and one unnamed AFC executive went further in comments to Fowler, framing Hurts’ rushing-dependent value as a ticking clock. Bleacher Report relayed the exec’s blunt assessment: a polarizing player whose value erodes as his legs slow down, with general manager Howie Roseman likely to stay “proactive” in finding alternatives if Hurts doesn’t develop as a pure passer.
That’s an unconfirmed, anonymously sourced opinion — not a Roseman statement, not an Eagles announcement. Worth noting plainly, and worth treating as analyst speculation rather than fact.
Hurts isn’t alone in his division-mate misery. Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb landed right behind him at No. 55, a 20-spot drop from his No. 35 slot a year ago. Lamb missed three games and exited two others early with injury in 2025, finishing with 1,077 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 14 games — still 11th-most in the league in that span, according to NFL.com’s Pro Insight breakdown. The Cowboys’ decision to lean on George Pickens as a complementary target ate into Lamb’s volume, but as SI’s Cowboys site noted, a five-time Pro Bowler slipping outside the top 50 over an injury-shortened season looks like an overcorrection more than a talent read.
Here’s how the two NFC East stars stack up across their Top 100 history:
| Player | 2023 Rank | 2024 Rank | 2025 Rank | 2026 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalen Hurts | 3 | 15 | 19 | 56 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 13 | — | 35 | 55 |
The Nos. 60-51 batch of reveals, published July 22, wasn’t just about Philadelphia and Dallas. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams debuted at No. 51 off a breakout sophomore season, while Raiders tight end Brock Bowers checked in at No. 60 despite a knee injury that limited him to 12 games. San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner (No. 54), Rams receiver Davante Adams (No. 53) and Buccaneers tackle Tristan Wirfs (No. 52) rounded out the group, per NFL.com.
The full countdown, now in its 16th year, started June 22 and runs through Labor Day week. Two players are revealed daily on X, NFL+ and NFL.com through Aug. 21, at which point the format shifts to one reveal per weekday as the top 10 is unveiled from Aug. 24 through Sept. 4. Saquon Barkley held the No. 1 spot for 2025; whether he repeats or gets replaced remains one of the list’s few genuine suspense points, since no active repeat No. 1 has ever come from the running back position.
For Hurts, the next several weeks won’t change his number. But how he responds without Brown on the outside — and whether new pieces like first-round rookie receiver Makai Lemon can pick up the slack — will go a long way toward determining whether No. 56 turns out to be a floor or just a pit stop.