Jalen Hurts was at risk of dying in the days before multiple blood clots were found in his lungs, an expert claims, as the Philadelphia Eagles face growing questions over their handling of the star quarterback’s health.
Hurts is set to miss the rest of the NFL season after doctors made the terrifying discovery on Wednesday, three days after he played against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London then flew home to Philadelphia and 10 days after a cleat to the calf against the Los Angeles Rams that sparked the problem.
An ultrasound initially found a blood clot after the team arrived in London and Hurts was placed on the injury report with a calf injury on Friday. ESPN reported that Hurts did not sleep the night before the game after being evaluated in a London hospital due to the risk the clot could move.
Dr. Jesse Morse, MD, MBA, CAQSM, a board-certified Sports Medicine & Regenerative Medicine Specialist who has not personally treated Hurts, told the Daily Mail that the ‘fact they let him play in the game is the craziest decision that I can fathom,’ as he outlined the terrifying risks he faced then and in the days that followed.
The Daily Mail has contacted Hurts’ representatives and the Philadelphia Eagles for comment.
The tiredness in itself presented a further risk, with Morse noting that lack of sleep ‘significantly reduces reaction time’, and in an NFL game ‘you’re at very high risk for suffering concussion or possible injury if your reaction times are slow.’
Jalen Hurts is set to miss the rest of the NFL season due to multiple blood clots in his lungs
The Eagles have faced questions over the handling of Hurts’ situation after his diagnosis
Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, has since claimed that while Hurts was awake until the early hours of Sunday morning getting evaluated at the hospital, he was able to sleep after rejoining the team after the Eagles set aside a room for him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Hurts said he had faced a ‘very unique’ situation when he practiced and spoke to the media after returning to the United States. It was not until Wednesday, October 14 that the Eagles said a follow-up ultrasound revealed the clot had moved. The Eagles have not responded to comment to confirm whether or not he had any more ultrasounds between the Jaguars game and that finding.
The fact he played the game in London indicates he had not started taking blood thinning medication before the game, as that would have prevented him from being able to take to the field due to extremely high risks from being hit.
Morse said: ‘Rather than being smart and putting him on the blood thinner to prevent that blood clot from moving, they decided to say, you know what, we’re just going to let him play.
‘The crazy part, after that, is them saying, you know what? He just played a stressful game, which is very stressful in the body and increases the risk for further clotting, but not only that, could have caused it to move. Then they decided to send him back internationally from London to Philly.
‘So he was at risk of having a blood clot, going through his lungs, his brain or his heart and potentially killing him, from the date of that diagnosis. So probably from last Friday, through the game, through the international flight, and then each of the days afterwards until he was put on a blood thinner.’
Morse believes allowing Hurts to play in the game and subsequent details of his treatment could amount to a ‘fireable offense’ and told the Daily Mail: ‘There has to be a fall guy, probably, multiple fall guys. But this is reckless on a catastrophic level.
‘Whether this is the coach, the GM, the doctor, the medical team… somebody, several people have to be the fall guy, because this isn’t just a random, one off, small player, that like, “we could just sit him, it’s not a big deal.”
‘This is the quarterback of the team. This is the leader. So everybody is in the know about what’s going on with this situation. This is not, you know, we’re going to keep this hush hush.
‘Everyone was in on this decision, but this is on the medical staff to say, “hey, I am not medically clearing you to play in that game. I don’t care if you want to play in that game. I know you’re going to want to play.”
‘Players want to play. But it is my medical judgment that is not worth the risk. For you to play in that game and potentially this blood clot from the blood vessel, go into your lungs, cause a saddle embolus and die.’
Hurts threw for over 200 yards against the Jaguars in London in a narrow 19-17 loss
Hurts later told reporters he had faced a ‘very unique’ situation before the Jaguars game
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni insisted Monday he has ‘full trust and full faith’ in the team’s medical staff and added: ‘We always put our players health first and foremost in every situation.’
Attention is now turning to whether Hurts will be able to return at all, with concerns the situation could end his career. He will need to be cleared after months on blood thinners, which Morse says is far from guaranteed now he faces increased risk of blood clots after a ‘unique’ sequence of events.
‘It could be (career-ending),’ Morse said. ‘At the minimum, this is three months. And we’ve had several players suffer blood costs and come back. But to my knowledge, and I studied this stuff really well, I don’t think we’ve ever had an NFL player get confirmed multiple blood clots in his lungs. Which means this is not the first time, and this was not only one.
‘The only way you could potentially prevent a new blood clot from forming is to be on a blood thinner. You cannot be on a blood thinner and a play contact sport. You will bleed out and you can’t stop the hose when the faucet is turned on, which is what a blood thinner does. You can’t turn it off until like 34 days later. So it’s not worth the risk.
‘Unless they decide to make this a unique exception to the rule, this could be career ending. At the minimum it is season ending, but this is a very unique situation.
‘Just the fact that this was a trauma-induced clot. That was probably worsened by the international flight each way. Diagnosed, acknowledged that it existed, recommended not to sleep, because if he slept, the immobility could potentially cause the blood clot to move into his lungs, yet you allowed him to play in an NFL game? And then flew him back on a flight for 6 to 7 hours? I don’t know how they could medically clear him, safely.’
Morse also points to increased risk, albeit a rare one, of suffering blood clots after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. In 2021, it was found that around 4 in one million people who got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine later got a blood clot syndrome. The vaccine is no longer available in the United States and medical experts say the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine generally outweigh the risks.
Hurts is set to remain with the team while he is ruled out of football due to his health condition
Hurts initially suffered the injury when he took a cleat to the calf against the Los Angeles Rams
‘They’re calling this provoked versus unprovoked, is usually the term we use. So this would be a provoked blood clot, meaning it was a trauma which led to it.
‘The trauma that caused it could potentially cause a new one. So if this was an unprovoked blood clot, meaning he just developed blood cloth out of the blue, he wasn’t doing anything, he didn’t get hit, then that is permanent career-ending. No questions.
‘That’s what happened to Chris Bosh for the for the Miami Heat. But at the same time, knowing the sport that he plays, how can you justify the risk?’
