Jalen Hurts likely to miss season after blood clots found following London game

Jalen Hurts is likely to miss the rest of the season after an ultrasound found blood clots in his lungs; he played in the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on 11 October. The Eagles have restricted Hurts from playing for the immediate future while he is treated.

Hurts complained of calf pain to Eagles medical staff on 8 October, according to ESPN, and the team say he flew to London with the rest of the squad and, out of an "abundance of caution," was given an ultrasound that found a superficial clot in his calf. The Eagles and doctors in London agreed "that activity and mobility were important," and Hurts played in the London game; he also practiced the following week before a follow-up ultrasound found clots in his lungs. The report noted that an ultrasound before the flight and making him inactive after the clot was found would have been more prudent actions.

One sports medicine doctor told NJ.com that Hurts was "a walking risk," and the Guardian’s account reported that doctors had reportedly told him in the early hours of Sunday morning not to sleep before the Jaguars game; Hurts’s agent, Nicole Lynn, clarified that he did get some sleep before the contest. Hurts told reporters last Wednesday that his last week had been a "very unique experience" but declined to reveal the blood clot. Asked about the decision to play Hurts, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said: "I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them. It’s not just me that has major care for our players. It’s them as well."

Hurts is on blood thinners and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the report, and no one has reported that he received undue pressure from the Eagles or the league to play against the Jaguars. The NFL told the Guardian it "continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing ⁠strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts," but the article places Hurts’s case in a wider pattern of players sustaining serious injuries while playing through medical problems.

The Guardian cited research and former players to illustrate that pattern: a 2017 study found a college player sustained head impacts in a single game equivalent to multiple car crashes, and a study published this year found 215 of 235 brains of former NFL players donated for research showed signs of CTE. Former players’ accounts of pressure to play were also referenced: in 2018 former Eagles tackle Lane Johnson was reportedly "berated" by general manager Howie Roseman for saying he was unsure about playing with a high ankle sprain, and Roseman reportedly told him, "Good, you have your mouthpiece in, now you can’t say anything stupid." Johnson aggravated the ankle injury and suffered a knee injury during that game, the report said.

Former receiver Bernard Berrian was quoted as saying the tension around playing while hurt "isn’t verbal" but is still "there" because, "as we say, you can’t make the team in the training room." Former running back Clinton Portis was cited as saying he played through 10 concussions and rarely got treatment, that he was "really scared" of undergoing testing to assess his neurological health, and that "You can’t make the club in the tub." The article also noted financial pressures, stating that 61% of NFL contracts contain guarantees and the average year-to-year retention is 56%.

The Guardian reported that the league has made changes such as altering kickoff rules and introducing oversized Guardian Caps, while citing research that raises questions about those measures’ effectiveness: a 2018 study in the Brain Neurology Journal found subconcussive hits also contribute to CTE, and a 2025 Wisconsin School of Medicine study concluded that Guardian Caps did not reduce concussion rates in a sample of high school players.

The piece additionally raised the issue of medical racism, saying multiple studies have shown Black people and other minorities in the US are less likely to receive adequate medical care and that it is "impossible to say whether the staff who treated Hurts looked at a strapping Black athlete and believed he could play a brutal game while suffering from blood clots," but that the incident "conjures historical patterns and lived experiences of Black people not receiving proper care."

The article said it is hoped Hurts recovers and has a long, healthy career and argued that the Eagles’ handling of his treatment should be a demarcation point for the league; "From the top down, the league needs to stop treating their labor force like cattle on a farm, as if their sole worth is in putting their bodies at risk," the report concluded.