After a bad start to the year turned into a disaster, the Eagles are in free fall. Philadelphia dropped its fifth straight game to the Cowboys on Monday night, and now the NFL can turn its attention to the team for how it handled Jalen Hurts.
Hurts will miss the Eagles’ game against the Panthers due to a season-ending blood clot in his lungs. The questions are not only about how the Eagles will handle the Hurts injury, but also about the timetable for his health moves. A new report from the Philadelphia Inquirer says a well-connected source inside the NFL said the league was “furious” with how the Eagles handled the Hurts situation. The shield is on optics, and when one of the league’s most recognizable players is mishandled, especially when it comes to player health, they’re going to be furious with anyone involved.
A joint NFL/NFLPA investigation into the Eagles’ conduct is underway, which will try to determine what role, if any, the organization had in aggravating Hurts’ injury and leading to his season-ending injury, or whether they knowingly misled the league about the severity of Hurts’ injury. Today, we explore what led to this whole situation and chart what happened with Jalen Hurts.
The Eagles lose to the Rams 24-20. Jalen Hurts was caught in the shin during a play, when a player (teammate or opponent) went toe-to-toe or toe-to-toe. There is no indication that he notified medical personnel of the injury either when it occurred or immediately after the game.
Monday, October 5 to Wednesday, October 7
Hurts continues his typical training and exercise protocol. The Eagles claim Hurts again failed to notify them of any injuries.
Jalen Hurts informs the team’s medical staff that he has calf discomfort. He continues to practice throughout the session. For the first time, he is added to the team’s injury report, which shows he practiced Wednesday, Thursday, and then is listed as “Full Participant” on Friday. His game status is listed as “Undetermined”.
The Eagles leave Philadelphia and fly to London for the game against the Jaguars. Hurts is on a roll and all indications are that he will play. After landing, the team sends Hurts for imaging, and an ultrasound shows “small superficial blood clots” in his calf, where he feels pain.
Hurts is admitted to hospital for monitoring, where he stays overnight – but is told not to sleep, which could increase the risk of clotting. Doctors are reviewing the ultrasound and have reportedly cleared Hurts to play in Sunday’s game in London – arguing that the move would be beneficial to the problem.
Hurts leads Eagles to loss against Jaguars in Week 5 game. After the game, he calls the experience “very unique” and hops on a plane back to Philadelphia.
Tracking footage reveals blood clots moving in Hurts’ calf, and the Eagles announce he will miss Week 6 against the Carolina Panthers. The team said it is monitoring the situation to assess appropriate treatment.
Hurts undergoes further testing, which shows that the clots that were previously in Hurts’ leg have now traveled to his lungs. He has now been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and bilateral pulmonary embolism, which will be treated with blood thinners. Hurts is out for the rest of the 2026 NFL season.
The NFLPA is calling for a full investigation into the Eagles’ handling of Hurts during this diagnosis after learning the NFL has no plans to investigate the Eagles. Two things are important:
- When you first dealt with the calf pain that Hurts mentioned, was there any discussion of a possible blood clot?
- Did the specialists in London actually diagnose Hurts with Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in his calf? If so, how was the decision made to play him despite a serious blood clot? What protocols were followed to ensure his safety upon return?
The NFL defended the Eagles’ handling of Jalen Hurts’ injury, saying “all protocols were followed.” The NFL’s chief physician Dr. Allan Sills says the NFL has multiple cases of blood clots that occur each year, and the league tracks them.
This statement raises questions. If the league is tracking blood clots and there are numerous cases each year – logically, teams should be aware of the warning signs and risk factors that could lead to clots in players. That includes Hurts, who complained of calf soreness four days after pitching against the Rams. However, it doesn’t appear that the Eagles made any attempt to diagnose his problem until the team landed in London.
Long flights, such as transatlantic travel to the UK, are known to both cause and exacerbate blood clots, putting some individuals at greater risk of developing DVT.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reports that the NFL and NFLPA will launch a joint investigation into how the Eagles handled Jalen Hurts’ injury.
The investigation into the Eagles centers on both how Hurts was treated leading up to his season-ending injury and the role of internal medical teams, which have the ultimate power over a player’s health. There has always been a handshake agreement between the league, the union and the teams that they will have the best interests of the players at heart – it should be self-regulating based on the money the players make under their contracts and their importance to the teams.
With the Eagles, this situation muddies the water. The team was in a deadlock and needed to play Hurts because of their gutsy depth at quarterback, and turning into the London game could make Hurts’ situation especially bad. There is currently no timeline for when the joint investigation will be completed, but the outcome could lead to penalties against the Eagles and/or adjustments to medical guidelines around the NFL.