Jalen Hurts in action for the Philadelphia Eagles. (Photo: All-Pro Reels / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
By Charles Jackson
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles’ season took its hardest hit yet on Monday, when the team announced that quarterback Jalen Hurts will miss the rest of the season after further testing revealed blood clots in his lungs.
Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, released a statement confirming the diagnosis: deep vein thrombosis as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli, meaning blood clots in both lungs. Hurts is clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations, the statement said. His treatment will consist of blood thinners, and he will not be allowed to participate in any contact activities, including football, while on them.
“The prognosis is very good, and we expect a full recovery,” Lynn wrote. “We anticipate that he will have the opportunity to resume contact football activities when off the blood thinners.”
The road to Monday’s announcement was a frightening one. Hurts took a cleat to his calf in the Eagles’ October 4 game against the Los Angeles Rams and reported the injury to the medical staff after practice on October 8. Specialists in London diagnosed a superficial blood clot in his left calf before the Eagles’ October 11 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars — and Hurts played anyway, after spending the night before in a London hospital until 4 a.m. He later admitted he went without sleep that night “because sleep was a risk.”
A follow-up ultrasound on October 14 showed the clot had moved. The Eagles placed Hurts on injured reserve on October 17, sidelining him for at least four games. Then Monday’s imaging delivered the devastating news: the clots had traveled to his lungs.
The loss is enormous. A three-time Pro Bowl selection and the MVP of Super Bowl LIX, Hurts has compiled a 59-28 regular-season record since taking over as the starter late in his rookie season in 2020. He has passed for 18,824 yards with 118 touchdowns and rushed for 3,661 yards and 64 more scores. This season, he completed 57.8 percent of his passes for 933 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions in five starts, going 2-3.
Backup Tanner McKee started in Hurts’ place on Sunday as the Eagles fell 25-14 to the Carolina Panthers at home — their fourth consecutive loss, dropping Philadelphia to 2-4. McKee is expected to remain the starter with Hurts sidelined.
For a franchise that has ridden Hurts’ toughness to five straight playoff appearances, three NFC East titles and two Super Bowls, the rest of the season now becomes about survival. But Monday’s news carried the only reassurance that truly matters: the Eagles and Hurts’ camp expect no long-term effects, and their quarterback is expected back.
“He will remain active around the team and continue to condition,” the team’s statement said. “More importantly, we anticipate that he will have no long-term effects.”
