NFL makes major decision on Eagles after Jalen Hurts played in London with a blood clot in his calf (Getty Images)
11, a day after doctors found a superficial clot in his calf. Hurts threw 21 of 40 for 220 yards and a touchdown in a 19-17 loss. Early reports said Hurts stayed awake 36 hours before the game. Coach Nick Sirianni has made his own defense, pointing to the staff that kept 21 of 22 starters available for the Super Bowl.
League officials told The Athletic the team broke no rules by playing the quarterback against Jacksonville in London on Oct. The union says nobody has actually checked. It called the process “handled appropriately by the Eagles” and found no injury report violation. The Athletic says that is wrong. Sometimes, he said, doctors do everything right and a disease still advances. Two independent experts told Yahoo Sports it is rare for a superficial clot to move into a deep vein and then the lungs. In a Tuesday night statement, it said it knew of no investigation into Hurts’ care and that the league had earlier told it none was planned. Conclusions, the union said, should wait for a full inquiry. Executive vice president Jeff Miller said the league spoke with Eagles staff, the independent hospital and the doctors involved, and has a complete picture. “Full trust in those guys,” he said.
The NFL has closed the book on how the Eagles handled Jalen Hurts’ blood clots. Days later, scans showed multiple clots in his lungs, and Hurts is now out indefinitely. The finding landed Tuesday, the same day the NFL Players Association demanded a full investigation. The league sees no problem. The league’s conclusion is short. Jalen Hurts appeared on the report with a calf issue two days before kickoff but carried no game designation, since the team expected him to play without limits. He did. The sleep story took the most heat, and it has now been walked back. The whole team stayed on U.S. NFL chief medical officer Alan Sills went further. He argued that a bad outcome does not prove a bad process. In his words, everyone involved was “incredibly conservative and incredibly vigilant. He added that most people would have gone longer without a diagnosis. There is medical support for part of that view. Those clots usually stay put, and they do not normally rule a player out of contact sports. Once the clot spread, though, blood thinners became necessary, and that treatment runs three to six months. The NFLPA is not buying the league’s version. That is the weak spot in the NFL’s position. Talking to people is not the same as auditing records, and the union wants the records opened. Some fans and reporters wanted general manager Howie Roseman or a team doctor to answer questions instead.