NFL ‘furious’ at Eagles’ mismanagement of the Jalen Hurts blood-clot condition
According to NFL sources, the league has no issues with Hurts' timeline and treatment. The problem lies with transparency and messaging.
The Jalen Hurts blood-clot saga is not going away.
Just before the latest international game began in Paris on Sunday morning, the most controversial international game in NFL history remained in the headlines. The NFL and the NFL Players Association announced, “the NFL and NFL Players Association are working together to review the matter.”
It is the latest black eye for a league notorious for its historic disregard for player safety and health, from painkiller abuse to concussion cover-ups to its refusal to acknowledge the dangers of playing on artificial surfaces.
Sunday’s announcement is the most recent fallout from what could have been a mundane, routine, and unfortunate course of treatment, disclosure, and reporting.
As the Eagles prepare for a Monday night home game against their arch-rival Cowboys, riding a four-game losing streak and crippled by injury, the chief topic of conversation should be job security for the coaches and players as well as whether the team should consider blowing up an aging, unproductive roster at the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni declines to say whether he supports an NFLPA investigation into the Jalen Hurts matter
Instead, thanks to breathtaking arrogance, condescension, opacity, and general disregard for the desire of the public for clarity regarding the nature of Hurts’ ailment and treatment, outrage continues.
Notably, the cooperative investigation is not the full, independent investigation the NFLPA could demand under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. An NFLPA source said Sunday that if the NFLPA believes the current co-investigation is obstructed or misled in any way, it invokes its right for a fully independent investigation.
All of this is a headache the NFL does not appreciate.
Several NFL sources indicated that the league office and commissioner Roger Goodell are annoyed and angry at how the Eagles handled the deteriorating health of Hurts.
“They’re furious,” one longtime source well-connected to the NFL offices said.
Last week at the owners’ meetings in New York, Goodell and Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, had to field questions surrounding Hurts’ treatment. It was a session neither enjoyed. Goodell looked exhausted and sounded defeated.
Sills, who was involved in securing elite medical expertise while Hurts was in London two weeks ago, fully endorsed the Eagles’ decisions and actions.
“The notion that there are external factors or that any of our physicians would put a player in harm’s way — that’s nonsense,” Sills said. “I think there was incredible vigilance, there was conservative care, state-of-the-art imaging that was done in London. And, as far as the timing and the decision-making, I have great confidence in that and believe that everyone acted with an abundance of caution.”
Indeed, the NFL sources said the league has no issues with the timeline and treatment of Hurts. It is convinced that the Eagles proceeded with appropriate caution and care in the discovery, management, monitoring, and follow-up concerning the blood clot that presented as a bruise Oct. 8, was diagnosed as a stable, superficial clot on Oct. 10 before a game on Oct. 11, was found to have moved Oct. 14, landed Hurts on injured reserve Oct. 17, then, as deep vein thrombosis with pulmonary emboli on Oct. 19, a condition that will require months of therapy and likely will end his season.
The doctors weren’t the problem; at least, not for the moment.
The problem lies with transparency and messaging.
Instead of presenting a medical professional to explain Hurts’ situation and to ask questions, the Eagles issued incomplete statements when he landed on IR and then when he was lost for the season. Several relevant questions went unanswered regarding the best and most common practices about examinations, tests, travel, and return to play. Blood clots and their treatment are a complex phenomenon. It’s not like a torn ACL.
Marcus Hayes alerts
The Eagles’ response:
Trust me, Bro.
The only representative from the Eagles to speak on the matter so far is head coach Nick Sirianni, who has doggedly not only declined to provide specifics but refused to materially address the matter at all.
Howie Roseman is the team’s executive vice-president and GM, responsible for all roster decisions, including who is available and/or allowed to play in each game. Dr. Arsh S. Dhanota of Penn Sports Medicine is the Eagles’ chief medical officer, also is one of the Sixers’ team doctors, and is a former doctor for the Flyers. Tom Hunkele is the Eagles’ vice president of sports medicine and head athletic trainer. None of them have directly addressed Hurts’ situation.
Meanwhile, on Thursday in Kansas City, Chiefs coach Andy Reid continued the policy of medical transparency he began as the Eagles head coach and executive vice-president. Chiefs vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder, Reid’s head athletic trainer when they were in Philadelphia, explained the medical situation regarding the back problem that has sidelined offensive lineman Josh Simmons.
The Eagles have not been nearly as forthcoming since Reid was fired after the 2012 season.
This consistent strategy, practiced for years but most recently and most significantly manifested in the Hurts drama, has created an atmosphere of conspiracy, self-protection, and rear-end coverage for the Eagles that is unnecessary and almost certainly unintentional.
But then, distrust is a natural response considering the NFL historically has a horrible reputation when it comes to caring for its players, best exemplified in the $765 million settlement in 2013 in relation to a concussion lawsuit. The league is still sensitive after the controversial handling surrounding the three head trauma incidents suffered by then-Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in 2022, which led him to consider retiring after just three seasons.
» READ MORE: Unanswered questions in the Jalen Hurts saga with the Eagles
The Eagles bear a personal stain related to medical missteps. Chris Maragos, a former Eagles safety, successfully sued medical staff associated with the Eagles — not the Eagles themselves — for malpractice in their treatment of a career-ending knee injury suffered in 2017. He won $43.5 million in 2023, a verdict appealed and upheld in 2024.
This is a different level. The Eagles failed to recognize this.
Phrases like blood clot and pulmonary embolism and life-threatening are far more dire than a torn ligament, grade-2 strain, and mild concussion.
The reality is, the Eagles actually have a reputation for over-caution in determining players’ health and their return to play.
That reputation is now taking a self-inflicted hit and further sullying the NFL’s poor track record.
The Eagles seem reluctant to address the handling of the Jalen Hurts blood clots saga, but the key questions involved in the story aren’t going anywhere. Throughout the week, in the absence of remarks from general manager Howie Roseman or team medical personnel, head coach Nick Sirianni was peppered by reporters. He’s offered few details in return. After speaking with high-ranking medical officials currently or previously employed by NFL teams, The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane frames four central issues that remain unanswered, while also looking at what this situation means for Hurts’ future in Philadelphia. Listen here.
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