Jalen Hurts blood clot handling cleared by NFL, NFLPA demands full investigation

Jalen Hurts played a full game in London with a blood clot in his leg, and the NFL says the Eagles handled it the right way.

The NFL Players Association is not buying it.

On Tuesday night, hours after the league closed the book on the Eagles, the union put out a statement saying it is “not aware of any NFL investigation into the medical care provided to Jalen Hurts.” It also said the league had told the union earlier that it had no plans to review his care at all.

So the league cleared the team. The union says nobody actually looked. That is where this sits on Wednesday morning.

Jalen Hurts is out for the season

The health news first, because it matters most. On Monday, the Eagles and agent Nicole Lynn announced that what started as a superficial clot in his left calf had become deep vein thrombosis, with clots now in both lungs. Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the 2026 season. Lynn said he is clinically stable and expected to make a full recovery, and he can resume his career once he is off blood thinners.

That is a relief. It does not explain how we got here.

Jalen Hurts showed up on the injury report with a calf issue on Friday, Oct. 9, and practiced in full. The superficial clot was diagnosed the next day, and he spent hours at the Cleveland Clinic in London the night before the game. The Eagles never changed his injury status because they decided the clot would not affect his snap count.

On Oct. 11, Jalen Hurts played every offensive snap in the loss to Jacksonville. Then he got on a long flight home.

Last Wednesday, an ultrasound showed the clot had moved. On Thursday, the Eagles ruled him out against Carolina and said the league had been made aware. A report said he would not go on injured reserve. Hours later, he went on injured reserve. Monday brought the news about his lungs.

Five days. That is how fast a calf issue the team managed through a road game became a season-ending situation.

The NFL says the Eagles handled Jalen Hurts correctly

The NFL has concluded that the process surrounding Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts being cleared to play in Week 5 with a superficial blood clot “was handled appropriately,” a league source tells @TheAthletic https://t.co/vrVEEKHv2L

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) October 20, 2026

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The Athletic reported Tuesday that the league concluded the process to clear Jalen Hurts for London “was handled appropriately.” No discipline for the medical decisions. No discipline for Hurts going into the game without an injury designation.

Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, backed the Eagles’ doctors completely. He described their approach as “appropriately guarded at every step” and said the idea that a coach, general manager or owner could influence a team physician is nonsense.

When CNN asked whether the league actually investigated, a league official said it talked to the Eagles’ staff, people on the ground, and the independent hospital and doctors involved, and that it believes it has a complete understanding of what happened.

Maybe all of that is true. Maybe every call was the right one. But the league talking to the team and then announcing the team did nothing wrong, inside roughly a day, is not going to satisfy anyone who watched this unfold.

Why the NFLPA is right to push on Jalen Hurts

pic.twitter.com/wZyVLPcXvD

— NFLPA (@NFLPA) October 21, 2026

The union wants the facts before anyone draws conclusions, saying “there must be a full investigation into what occurred.” It tied that directly to making sure players get the best possible care going forward.

The NFLPA has been here before. In 2022, after Tua Tagovailoa was allowed back into a game after showing concussion symptoms, the union’s investigation led to tougher concussion protocol rules. Mike Florio has pointed to the independent concussion consultants on every sideline as proof that outside checks exist for a reason.

The same logic applies here. If the Eagles’ doctors did everything right, an outside review proves it and ends the conversation. If something got missed, every player in the league needs to know so it does not happen to the next guy.

Sills calling the concerns nonsense does not close the case. It just makes the union dig in harder.

Eagles fans should want this investigation as much as anyone. The team already lost 25-14 to Carolina without him, and the rest of the season now runs through a backup. We deserve to know whether Jalen Hurts getting on that field in London had anything to do with where he is now.

He is going to be okay. That comes first.

Whether he should have played that game is still an open question, no matter what the league says. The NFLPA is right to keep it open.