The NFL and the NFL Players Association announced Sunday that they will jointly review how the Eagles handled the Jalen Hurts blood clot diagnosis. The review follows a union call for an investigation and public defenses of the team’s care from league officials.
Joint Statement Starts The Jalen Hurts Blood Clot Investigation
The league and the union said in a joint statement on Sunday that they are “working together to review the matter,” according to NFL Network reporting relayed by outlets including ClutchPoints and Bleacher Report. The statement gave no timeline. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the logistics are still in the planning stage and that the process will take time. Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer said on Sunday that the review will look at whether the situation was handled inappropriately and how the league can better protect players who face similar medical problems.
TMZ posted its report at 7:18 AM Pacific, and ClutchPoints published at 2:36 PM UTC. Hurts has deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli, according to a statement the Eagles issued with his agent, Nicole Lynn. NBC Philadelphia and Bleacher Report report that the team and agent called him clinically stable, said they expect a full recovery with no long-term effects, and said he will return to contact football once he comes off blood thinners. He is out for the rest of the season.
Reports Disagree On The Timeline
Outlets give different dates for the medical sequence. Fox Sports and NBC Philadelphia say Hurts took a cleat to the calf on October 4 in a game against the Rams. NBC Philadelphia adds that he told medical staff on October 8, returned to practice on October 9, and flew with the team to London. Specialists there found a superficial clot in his left calf on October 10, and he played against Jacksonville on October 11, per NBC and Bleacher Report.
Jacksonville won 19-17 on a last-second field goal. Fox Sports says the Cleveland Clinic London facility that cleared him is approved by both the NFL and the NFLPA. That detail matters because both parties that now plan to review the case also signed off on the evaluation site. Back in Philadelphia, a follow-up scan showed the clot had moved. Fox Sports says a doctor in Boston then found multiple pulmonary embolisms.
Bleacher Report says Hurts missed the Week 6 loss to Carolina, 25-14, with Tanner McKee starting. TMZ’s version differs. Its timeline lists the first diagnosis on October 17 and the spread to his lungs on October 19. The other three outlets place the first diagnosis a week earlier, in London. TMZ also dates the NFLPA’s call for an investigation to October 21, while Bleacher Report says the union made it on Tuesday, October 20.
League Officials Defended The Eagles Before The Review
Yardbarker says the NFL reversed course. The site reports that league officials publicly defended the medical handling earlier in the week and that reports said the league would not punish the Eagles. According to Yardbarker, the NFLPA said the league told the union it did not plan to review Hurts’ care at all.
NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills called the idea that physicians would put a player in harm’s way “nonsense,” per Yardbarker. Bleacher Report says Sills described the Eagles’ treatment as conservative and patient-focused. The outlets report Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Wednesday comments differently. Yardbarker quotes him saying the league welcomed the union’s call. NBC Philadelphia quotes him saying the protocols were followed and the league felt comfortable with the process.
The two accounts could both be accurate, but they come from different outlets and neither shows the full exchange. The Athletic reported that the Eagles have not made their medical staff available to reporters, and that head coach Nick Sirianni pointed to team statements, including the one issued with Lynn, when asked about the case. ClutchPoints relays that reporting.
What The Review Could Cover And What To Watch
Yardbarker notes that Article 39, Section 5(f) of the collective bargaining agreement lets the NFLPA investigate on its own. A joint review suggests the union has not used that right, so league officials who defended the Eagles will help examine the case. NBC’s Mike Florio argued the review should cover the full period from the initial injury through the diagnosis. He also noted that Hurts could still pursue claims against doctors who may have fallen short of the standard of care, even if he and the Eagles agree on the facts.
ClutchPoints reports that questions remain about how much the Eagles knew before Hurts played earlier this season, and that no findings have been reported. The Eagles are 2-4 and play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football in Week 7, according to ClutchPoints and Bleacher Report. Fans and reporters should watch for a timeline for the review, a named lead investigator, whether the Eagles make their medical staff available, and whether the union pursues its own inquiry under the labor agreement.
