Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts suffered a calf injury when he was cleated in a loss to the Rams in Week 4. The Eagles and Hurts flew to London for a matchup with the Jaguars the next week, and a day after they arrived, a superficial blood clot was discovered in his calf.
Hurts spent a large portion of the night before the Jacksonville game at the Cleveland Clinic in London and didn’t return to the team hotel until 2:45 a.m. ET, according to Jonathan Jones of The Athletic. While Tom Pelissero of The Ringer reported Monday that Hurts had been awake for 36 straight hours before he took the field against Jacksonville, that was not the case.
[RELATED: NFLPA Seeking Investigation Into Hurts Matter]
Hurts was never advised to stay awake, per Jones, who adds that the 28-year-old slept at the hotel until 10 a.m. and took a pregame nap at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He wound up playing all 62 of the Eagles’ offensive snaps in a 19-17 loss.
Although the Eagles announced that Hurts had a superficial blood clot when they returned stateside last week, a report from Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport of ESPN indicated they weren’t considering sending him to injured reserve. Not only did the Eagles wind up putting him on IR last Saturday, but Hurts’ condition proved to be far worse than the initial diagnosis.
“After further testing and monitoring, the current diagnosis is a deep vein thrombosis, as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli,” the Eagles and Nicole Lynn, Hurts’ agent, said in part of a statement on Monday.
The announcement revealed Hurts is also dealing with blood clots in both lungs, which makes it unlikely he will play again this season. Meanwhile, the Eagles are under fire for allowing Hurts to make the trip to England, play with a blood clot and then take the flight home to Philadelphia.
When asked on Monday why the Eagles let Hurts play, head coach Nick Sirianni said (via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer):“The health of our players is always at the forefront of our minds, and we leave that up to the medical experts, but we always, always care deeply about our players. When you are completely focused on together and connection, you’re always thinking about the well-being of your guys, and that’s where we were in that situation.”
On why the Eagles signed off on Hurts flying back, Sirianni offered: “Again, I’m not a medical expert. Same deal there. We get medical information from our guys, and we always put the players’ health first and foremost in every situation, and that’s where we were there.”
Despite the widespread criticism for how the Eagles approached Hurts’ health scare, a league source told Jones that everything “was handled appropriately” on the team’s end. The source added that the NFL, the Eagles and the club’s medical staff have regularly communicated throughout the process.
The Eagles also did not violate the league’s injury report protocol, Jones relays. Hurts popped up on their injury report because of his calf on Oct. 9, the day before the superficial blood clot diagnosis. The Eagles didn’t make any changes to Hurts’ status on their injury report after that because they determined the blood clot would not affect his snap count. It ultimately didn’t, putting the Eagles in the clear on that front.
Losers of four straight after falling to Carolina in Week 6, the 2-4 Eagles are preparing to face the NFC East rival Cowboys next Monday. Tanner McKee will make his second straight start in Hurts’ place.
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