Where did Hurts' preseason play time rank among starting QBs?

Ten snaps.

That was the full extent of Jalen Hurts' preseason.

Ten snaps, seven passes, three completions, and bring on the Falcons.

How unusual is that?

Now that all the preseason games are over, we took a look at every starting quarterback’s playing time this preseason to see where Hurts ranks among all 32 starters.

Here’s what we found:

First of all, we broke up the 32 teams into three categories: Teams with a clear, established, healthy starter, teams with a legit quarterback competition and teams whose projected starter is hurt (or on the COVID reserve list).

Obviously, teams with a quarterback competition are going to play both QBs a lot. There were five of those this summer – the 49ers, Bears, Broncos, Patriots and Saints. And teams with a clear starter who’s hurt are obviously going to play only the backups. There were two of those (the Cowboys and Colts).

That leaves 25 teams – including the Eagles – with a clear opening-day starter who was healthy enough to play in the preseason.

Of those 25 teams, seven have quarterbacks who didn’t play a single snap this preseason: Justin Herbert of the Chargers, Matt Ryan of the Falcons, Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, Derek Carr of the Raiders, Matt Stafford of the Rams, Russell Wilson of the Seahawks and Ryan Tannehill of the Titans (who went on the COVID-reserve list after not playing in the first two preseason games). 

Of that group, all but Herbert are veterans of at least eight seasons, but Herbert did start 15 games as a rookie last year and throw nearly 600 passes.

So 18 healthy starting quarterbacks did play, and their preseason snap counts ranged from three to 65 snaps. Here’s how they stacked up:

• 65 … Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence          
• 60 … Dolphins - Tua Tagovailoa
• 51 … Chiefs - Pat Mahomes         
• 50 … Texans - Tyrod Taylor        
• 48 … Panthers - Sam Darnold              
• 44 … Jets - Zach Wilson              
• 40 … Giants - Daniel Jones
• 37 … Washington - Ryan Fitzpatrick 
• 33 … Bills - Josh Allen                 
• 30 … Vikings - Kirk Cousins        
• 22 … Lions - Jared Goff                        
• 18 … Buccaneers - Tom Brady             
• 16 … Browns - Baker Mayfield    
• 16 … Steelers - Ben Roethlisberger      
• 10 … Eagles - Jalen Hurts   
• 10 … Ravens - Lamar Jackson              
• 9 … Cards - Kyler Murray 
• 3 … Bengals - Joe Burrow   

What’s interesting about this list is that you have some very experienced and accomplished quarterbacks playing a lot of preseason reps and some young guys who barely played.

Pat Mahomes is a Super Bowl MVP and NFL MVP, but he played in all three preseason games, and his 51 snaps were 3rd-most of all the established starters. That’s a reflection of Andy Reid’s philosophy, which is the polar opposite of Sirianni’s. He’s always played his starters a lot in the preseason, and he probably always will.

Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls and ranks seventh in NFL history in passing yards, but that didn’t stop Mike Tomlin from getting him 16 snaps this preseason. 

Heck, even Tom Brady, winner of six Super Bowls, played in two of the Buccaneers’ three preseason games and got more playing time than Hurts.

So in all, there were 11 established starting QBs who played 10 or fewer snaps this preseason, and all are far more experienced than Hurts.

Here are the career starts and pass attempts for the 11 quarterbacks who played 10 or fewer snaps this preseason:

• 205 / 7,443: Matt Ryan 
• 190 / 6,587: Aaron Rodgers
• 165 / 3,898: Matt Stafford
• 144 / 4,335: Russell Wilson
• 110 / 3,830: Derek Carr
• 114 / 3,678: Ryan Tannehill
• 37 / 947: Lamar Jackson
• 32 / 1,100: Kyler Murray
• 15 / 595: Justin Herbert  
• 10 / 404: Joe Burrow
• 4 / 148: Jalen Hurts

What does all this mean? 

Every coach has a different philosophy, and Sirianni is a strong believer that practices, especially joint practices with other teams, are a good substitute for preseason playing time.

Some very successful coaches, Super Bowl winners like Reid, Tomlin and Bruce Arians, played their established Hall of Fame QBs more than Sirianni.

Is Sirianni onto something? We’ll let you know at about 4 p.m. on Sept. 12.

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