Jalen Hurts played a full game in London hours after being cleared for a blood clot, and the diagnosis now points to a far more serious problem. The Philadelphia Eagles said on Monday that Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the season after further tests found deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli.
That turn matters because the quarterback was still on the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on 11 October, even after a last-minute medical evaluation the night before. He returned to the team hotel at about 3am, then threw for 220 yards and a touchdown and ran twice for 2 yards in a 19-17 loss before flying home with the team later that evening.
The sequence began a week earlier, when another player stepped on Hurts’ left calf during Philadelphia’s defeat by the Los Angeles Rams on 4 October. Hurts first reported an issue on 8 October, trained in full all week and received treatment on Thursday and Friday before the team arrived in London on 10 October. He then visited the Cleveland Clinic that evening. An ultrasound showed a superficial blood clot in his calf, and doctors cleared him to play with a follow-up ultrasound recommended within 72 hours.
What made the situation hard to square is that the first scan did not suggest the kind of clot that later turned up. He was cleared for the game, then cleared again for the flight home after it, but a repeat ultrasound on 14 October showed the clot had moved. He was ruled out of the next game that day. By 19 October, the joint statement from the Eagles and Hurts’ agent said further tests had shown blood clots in his lungs and that treatment would involve blood-thinning medicine. It also said he should make a full recovery.
The NFL has protocols for concussions, emergency preparedness and extreme heat in the US and overseas, but not for situations like this. That leaves a gap around a condition that can change fast and can be life-threatening, especially when a player has already been cleared once and then diagnosed with a more serious clot days later. For Hurts, the immediate question is no longer whether he can get back for one more game. It is how quickly treatment can start, and how soon the season is likely gone.
