Jalen Hurts Is Out For The Season, And The Eagles Have A Lot Of Questions To Answer [Update]

Jalen Hurts's season is over. On Monday, his agent Nicole Lynn, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Eagles, released a statement about the quarterback's health situation as it pertains to the blood clot in his leg, an issue that was first revealed publicly on Oct. 15 and which landed Hurts on injured reserve two days later.

Monday's statement sheds more light on what exactly happened since the Eagles' trip to London to face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 11. The relevant part is also the scariest part:

Jalen was initially diagnosed by specialist in London with a left calf superficial vein thrombosis. After further testing and monitoring, the current diagnosis is a deep vein thrombosis, as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli.

Essentially, the situation is worse than initially diagnosed and clots have moved into Hurts's lungs. The statement then outlines a plan for recovery involving anticoagulants, says that everyone involved expects a "full recovery," but that Hurts will not be able to participate in any contact activities while he takes the blood thinners. ESPN's Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport are reporting that the process will knock Hurts out for the season, though no official timeline or decision has been announced by the Eagles.

The timeline here is concerning: According to the team's first statement, Hurts told the Eagles about the clot on Oct. 8, after he got hit in the leg with a cleat during the Eagles' loss to the Rams four days earlier. The Eagles then flew to London on Oct. 9, and Hurts underwent an ultrasound on Oct. 10. That led to the initial diagnosis of a superficial vein thrombosis, and the team's medical staff, in conjunction with doctors in London, cleared Hurts to play against the Jaguars anyway, citing that "activity and mobility were important" to the recovery. What we didn't know until today is that Hurts was also told by doctors to avoid sleeping due to the risks posed by his diagnosis. The Ringer's NFL insider Tom Pelissero, seemingly unable to understand that a guy playing in a football game with a blood clot after being awake for 36 hours is not a heartwarming story of perseverance, framed his reporting of this information around Hurts's commitment to football.

Upon returning to the United States, Hurts had another ultrasound, which showed movement in the clot. The Eagles released a statement that Hurts would not play in their Week 6 home game against the Carolina Panthers while a recovery plan was put in place. Two days later, Hurts was moved to injured reserve. According to Pelissero, tests on Oct. 17 showed that the blood clots had moved to Hurts's lungs, which preceded Lynn's statement on Monday and the reports that Hurts is out for the season.

There are obvious questions to ask about how the Eagles handled this situation. Why did the team let Hurts fly to London after he had told them about the blood clot? Why was he allowed to play against the Jaguars with said blood clot and on no sleep? Why did Hurts fly back to the U.S. before a deep vein thrombosis was ruled out definitively? It's good that Hurts was eventually diagnosed correctly and that he is on a recovery path, but it feels safe to say that the last 11 days could have been handled better.

Update: (4:02 p.m. ET): Seems like Pelissero got a dressing-down, which has led to an additional piece of reporting that just makes the story more confusing: