Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts may already be the reigning Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, but according to Good Morning Football host Kyle Brandt, his next season just might be his best — all because Hurts was one of many NFL athletes who got married this offseason.

“So many players got married this offseason,” said Brandt, a former Princeton University running back. “In fact, I can’t remember seeing so many announcements of players getting married.”

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“And in an era where we measure everything about athletes,” Brandt continued, “can we possibly measure the effect that getting married has on those athletes on the field? I say this as a guy who has been married 15 years this fall: Getting married can change your psyche, your sense of self, your sense of responsibility. But can it change you as a professional football player?”

Brandt then showed that the answer is a definitive yes.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, Brandt tells us, married his wife, Claire, after spending eight months in the friend zone when they first met at the University of Iowa. He played football for the Hawkeyes while she played basketball. After two years playing in the NFL, George and Claire walked into an Iowa City, Iowa, jewelry store together and tied the knot, right then and there. The very next season, Kittle became a first-team All-Pro, beating out Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, while racking up career highs in receptions per game and reception percentage.

Brandt highlighted half a dozen other players who made significant leaps in their careers the season after they get married, including defensive end Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders who posted career highs in sacks and tackles for loss after he married his wife, Rachel, and former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, who posted career highs in touchdowns while being selected to his first pro-bowl and winning the Super Bowl in the season after he got married.

Not to be outdone, his wife, Julie, won the FIFA Women’s World Cup after they got married and was named soccer’s Female Player of the Year that same season.

As fun as these anecdotes are, there are actually some academic studies that support the premise that married athletes outperform their single counterparts. One study examined NBA players between the 2004 and 2015 seasons. Using an “efficiency” rating incorporating points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting percentage, and turnovers, researchers found that married players performed 16% better than their unmarried counterparts of the same age — age was found to decrease a player’s efficiency over time, which is expected in a physical pursuit such as professional sports.

THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS A MARRIAGE GAP

Why might married athletes perform better than their single counterparts? Brandt already touched on some possibilities. “Getting married can change your psyche, your sense of self, your sense of responsibility,” as he said. But maybe having that spouse with you every day also just makes you a better person. When you are married, you are part of a new team. And you do not want to let your teammate down. Your wife becomes the reason you push yourself harder and train longer. And she is also there to be your most honest critic and fiercest fan.

So don’t bet against the newly married Hurts this season — unless he happens to be playing against Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who also got married this offseason.