Jalen Hurts Played in London With a Blood Clot Already Diagnosed. Now He Is Out Indefinitely.
The Eagles ruled Jalen Hurts out of Sunday’s game against the Panthers on Thursday. The statement they released to explain it raises a bigger question than the one it answers.
Hurts has a superficial blood clot in his calf. The Eagles found it on Saturday, October 10. He played the next day in London.
The Timeline Is the Story
Per Philadelphia’s own detailed statement, Hurts was cleated in the calf during the Week 4 home loss to the Rams on October 4. He visited the training room on Thursday, October 8, asking for calf treatment, his first session since that game. He was treated Friday and practiced in full.
On Saturday in London, “out of an abundance of caution,” the team performed a precautionary ultrasound. It revealed the superficial blood clot. Hurts was cleared to play, with a follow-up ultrasound recommended within 72 hours of the game and the return flight.
He played Sunday “without limitation” in a 17-19 loss at Jacksonville. He was treated Monday and Tuesday, practiced in full Wednesday, and that night’s follow-up scan showed what the team called “movement in the small blood clot.”
Thursday he was ruled out.
What the Diagnosis Actually Is
The qualifier matters enormously here. This is a superficial clot, or superficial thrombophlebitis, which forms in veins just under the skin. It is generally far less dangerous than a deep vein clot, which forms in the deeper veins that carry blood toward the heart and lungs.
The Cleveland Clinic, cited by Yahoo Sports, says a superficial clot typically resolves within a few weeks.
So this is not the emergency the phrase “blood clot” suggests. It is also not nothing, which is why the Eagles are now sitting a quarterback they cleared four days ago.
“Jalen will be out for Sunday’s game vs. the Panthers as we determine the appropriate course of treatment,” the team said. “His health and safety are our highest priority.”
No return timetable has been set. Ian Rapoport reported Hurts will not return until the situation is solved. Whether he is on blood thinners has not been confirmed.
Philadelphia Needs to Explain Sunday
Here is the uncomfortable part. The Eagles say health and safety are the highest priority, and they discovered a clot in a player’s leg on a Saturday and started him on Sunday in another country.
Team and London doctors cleared him. That is a real medical judgment, not a cover story, and superficial clots are routinely treated without any restriction on activity. The decision was defensible when it was made.
But the scan four days later showed movement, and now the same organization is holding him out indefinitely for the same condition. Both things cannot be the obviously correct call.
Hurts himself was careful Wednesday, before he was ruled out. “It was a very unique experience to say the least,” he said. He confirmed he “got nicked up in the Rams game” and then shut it down: “I don’t want to get into the details of leading up to the game and whatnot.”
That is a quarterback declining to defend a decision he did not make. Nick Sirianni has not addressed the clot on the record at all. The team has spoken only through its written statement.
Tanner McKee Gets the Ball
McKee, a 2023 sixth-round pick out of Stanford, is the expected starter. He has two career starts, including a win over the Giants in the 2024 regular-season finale and a win over the Cowboys after Kenny Pickett was hurt. He is in the final season of a four-year, $4.02 million rookie contract.
Philadelphia has reportedly turned down trade offers for him, including a Jets inquiry that ended when the Eagles asked for a second-round pick. Rookie fifth-rounder Cole Payton is the only other quarterback on the roster.
The Eagles are 2-3 on a three-game losing streak. Hurts, 28, is 89-of-154 for the season with eight touchdowns and three interceptions, and he threw 21-of-40 for 220 yards in London, the fewest completions by any quarterback this season in a game with at least 40 attempts.
He is on a five-year, $255 million deal. He should not have been on that field.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
