Who Should I Start? Sam Darnold or Jalen Hurts

Saturday, April 4, 7:40 AM

The Philadelphia Eagles and quarterback Jalen Hurts are both cognizant of the fact that he's entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, according to Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hurts still has three years left on the extension he signed back in 2023, but only one more year is guaranteed. As McLane notes, it's common for teams and players in this situation to restructure the deal to add more years and guaranteed money, in exchange for lower annual value. However, the Eagles and Hurts have no plans to change his deal, and they'll let him enter 2026 on his current contract. That puts added pressure on him for 2026, since he has no guaranteed money beyond this season. With that being said, the Eagles would still take on a significant cap penalty if they were to take action (trade or release Hurts) next offseason. All the chatter about Hurts' future stems from his rushing production taking a step back in 2025. He was still productive, but his rushing yards and touchdowns dropped to the lowest mark since his rookie campaign in 2021. He was the QB8 in fantasy football, which tied for his worst finish since 2022. A little bit of pressure -- plus a new offensive system under Sean Mannion -- could allow Hurts to bounce back as a top-five fantasy quarterback next year.