Jalen Hurts Will Stay at QB
The Senior Bowl often serves as a chance for players who don't quite fit NFL norms at a position to try their luck by making a switch. Athletic quarterbacks are always at the forefront of the conversation.
Fifteen years ago, Matt Jones learned to play wide receiver on the fly before becoming a first-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tim Tebow declined to play any other position.
Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts may be wearing two different helmets melded into one this week, but he has a singular vision for his future.
"I've always been a team-first guy, but I'm a quarterback," Hurts said, per The Draft Network's Trevor Sikkema.
Yes, Hurts is an athletic quarterback, but there's absolutely no reason to consider a position switch after the season he had at Oklahoma. The Heisman finalist finished third overall behind some guys named Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa with a 191.2 quarterback rating, completing 69.7 percent of his passes with a 32-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also added 1,298 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground.
"Jalen's come a long, long way. He really has," Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said, per the Associated Press. "People asked me about Jalen when I took the job and I said maybe if he comes to the Senior Bowl in a couple of years it might be as another position player. He's blown that out. He's come so far."
Justin Herbert and Jordan Love are the top two quarterbacks among this year's festivities, but Hurts has a chance to solidify his status as a Day 2 prospect (second or third round) instead of a Day 3 option.
"He's been successful everywhere he's been," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "He really is a little bit like an NFL quarterback in the sense that he had to go quickly and pick up an offense and really prove himself as a leader in a new program in a short period of time, which he did. ... Those are things that we get a chance now to see in person. Get to know the kid a little bit more. ... He certainly had a great college career. He's put himself in a good position."
