Jalen Hurts Blood Clot Case Sparks NFL Review Debate

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the NFL season after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and bilateral pulmonary emboli. The Eagles and his agent, Nicole Lynn, said Monday that a clot had travelled from a vein to his lungs. Hurts was placed on injured reserve and is taking blood thinners; he cannot participate in football activities while taking them. The news has renewed attention to blood clots among professional athletes, including NBA players Victor Wembanyama, Damian Lillard, Chris Bosh and Ausar Thompson, golfer Nelly Korda, NHL goaltender Frederik Andersen, baseball pitcher Merrill Kelly and NFL player Christian Barmore. DVT is a clot in a deep vein, usually in the lower leg. If it breaks free and blocks blood flow in the lungs, it becomes a pulmonary embolism, which can be life-threatening. Possible contributing factors include immobility, trauma, family history and dehydration. Symptoms may include unexplained swelling, discoloration or pain. Blood thinners are the most common treatment, though surgery or long-term medication may sometimes be needed. Experts cited in the article say there is no evidence that elite athletes are more prone to clots than people of similar ages, and large-scale comparisons with non-athletes are lacking. However, sport-specific circumstances—including collisions and trauma that may injure blood vessel walls—could create risks for athletes, though their effects have not been directly quantified. The article puts the risk of DVT or pulmonary embolism among people in their 20s and 30s at about one in 10,000. Long-haul travel, especially flights of eight hours or more, may also contribute, but the risk per flight is low for healthy people and is greater when other risk factors are present. The article describes the varied effects clots have had on other athletes, from temporary absences to the end of Chris Bosh’s basketball career.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league welcomes an investigation requested by the players’ union into how the Philadelphia Eagles handled quarterback Jalen Hurts’s blood clots. Speaking after the NFL’s annual fall meeting, Goodell said the league’s medical protocols were followed and that its chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, had reviewed the steps taken. Goodell added that the union was entitled to seek an independent review. The NFL said its officials had spoken with Eagles medical staff and the Cleveland Clinic in London. League executive Jeff Miller also disputed a report that Hurts had been awake for more than 30 hours before the Eagles played Jacksonville on Oct. 11, saying Hurts returned to the hotel and slept for about seven or eight hours. Hurts is on injured reserve and is expected to miss the rest of the season. The Eagles and his agent, Nicole Lynn, said he had deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli after a clot in his left calf travelled to his lungs. He is taking blood thinners and cannot take part in football activities while on the medication. Goodell said Hurts’s health and future were the main concerns, while downplaying the role international travel may have played. Sills explained that decisions about flying with a blood clot depend on factors such as the clot’s location and the patient’s medical history. He said such decisions draw on opinions from experts inside and outside a team. U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, whose husband died after blood clots travelled to his heart and lungs following an Achilles tendon injury, wrote to Goodell seeking answers and a briefing for her office and members of a Senate committee. She said she was relieved Hurts’s case had not ended as her husband’s did, and urged the NFL to use its influence to help prevent deaths. Hurts was six games into his fifth season as Philadelphia’s starting quarterback and had been named Super Bowl MVP when the Eagles won the championship two years earlier.

The NFL defended the Philadelphia Eagles’ medical care of quarterback Jalen Hurts after the NFL Players Association called for a full investigation into how his blood clots were handled. Hurts was diagnosed with a superficial vein thrombosis in his left calf after reporting an injury to team medical staff following practice. He played against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Oct. 11, three days later. The Eagles and Hurts’s agent, Nicole Lynn, later disclosed that he had deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary embolisms; the clot had travelled to his lungs. Hurts is on injured reserve and is expected to miss the rest of the season. He will take blood thinners and cannot participate in football activities while taking them. NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said the league had stayed in contact with the Eagles’ medical staff and Cleveland Clinic personnel in London. He expressed confidence that the team acted cautiously, prioritized Hurts’s health and used appropriate imaging and monitoring. The league said the Eagles would not be disciplined. NFL executive Jeff Miller also disputed reports that Hurts had gone more than 30 hours without sleep before playing, saying he slept for roughly seven or eight hours. The players’ union said the NFL had told it no review was planned and insisted that the facts must be established through a full investigation to protect players’ care and safety. Sills declined to discuss Hurts’s specific medical details, citing privacy, and said decisions were guided by medicine rather than football. Vascular surgeon Dr. Caron Rockman, who did not treat Hurts, said the available information did not show that the Eagles acted improperly. She described the matter as a case-by-case medical judgment and said a superficial vein thrombosis would not necessarily prevent someone from flying. The dispute remains focused on whether the care and decisions surrounding Hurts’s diagnosis and game participation were appropriate.