Jalen Hurts has had an incredible season and is an MVP favorite. Hurts has led the Philadelphia Eagles to a league best 12-1 record. His main competition for the award is Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes will always be a MVP candidate; he’s just that good at football.

But this season, the QB for Philadelphia should win. For starters, no one expected the Eagles to be anywhere near this good. People expected them to be a playoff team, but no one in their right mind would’ve predicted them to be the best team in the NFL. And while offseason moves have helped mightily, Jalen Hurts’ improvement is the main reason for the team’s success.

Meanwhile, people may not have expected the Chiefs to still be the best team in the AFC; they did expect the Chiefs to be a contender. While the loss of Tyreek Hill hurt the Chiefs, the Chiefs were still a good team and worthy to be considered “the best.” The Eagles were considered on the edge of contender, but the play of Jalen Hurts has put them over the top.

Hurts currently has 3,157 passing yards on 68% completion and a 108.4 QBR. He also has 22 TD passes and only 3 INTs, not to mention 686 yards rushing and 10 rushing TDs. Mahomes currently has 4,160 passing yards on 65.8% completion with a 103.4 QBR. He has 33 TD passes and 11 INTs. His rushing stats are 280 yards and 2 rushing TDs. As you can see these two are really different players. Mahomes has 1,000 more passing yards than Hurts because he has nearly 200 more passing attempts. Hurts has over 400 rushing yards than Mahomes because he’s taken off almost 100 more times. So stats-wise they’re pretty equal.

But I think a big tipping factor for Hurts is his astronomically low 3 INTs. Protecting the ball should be a QB’s main priority and Hurts does it better than every QB in the league. Mahomes’ gunslinger playstyle leads to more INTs and it can cost his team. The biggest example is their Week 14 game against the Broncos. Mahomes and the Chiefs blitzed to a 27-0 lead and it should’ve never been close. But due to Mahomes’ 3 INTs the Broncos started to come back. The Broncos have the worst offense in the league, but if you give any team that many opportunities, they’re going to score. Had Russell Wilson not gotten injured, the Broncos could’ve won that game. In my opinion, that game alone should hurt Mahomes’ MVP campaign. Mahomes also had an embarrassing loss against the Colts and threw a game sealing INT against the Bills. Hurts’ only loss was pretty bad but honestly that loss was not his fault. Many people recall Lamar Jackson’s amazing MVP season, and Jalen Hurts is putting up similar numbers. Jackson did more on the ground while Hurts did more on the air. Both players led their teams to unexpected league best records. Mahomes already has a MVP trophy, and he will surely win more. But in 2022, Jalen Hurts should win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.