Jalen Hurts’ health is now the headline, but it is no longer the only issue the Eagles have to answer for.
Hurts is being treated with blood thinners after blood clots were discovered in his lungs, and the current expectation is that he will miss the rest of the season. He has also been placed on injured reserve after a blood clot developed from the calf injury he suffered in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams. The diagnosis has widened from a football injury into a situation that leaves Philadelphia facing questions about how the organization handled the timeline, the communication and the decisions around its franchise quarterback.
Nick Sirianni has leaned hard on the medical side of the issue. “I’m not a medical expert. I lean on our guys in all those situation. I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them,” he said.
He has also said, “The health of our players is always at the forefront of our minds.”
Those comments frame the Eagles’ public stance, but they do not close the book on the larger organizational questions that have followed Hurts’ status. One source described the team’s handling of the situation as mismanagement through Sirianni. Another went further, arguing that the Eagles’ leadership group led by Sirianni and Howie Roseman should face punishment for the way Hurts’ situation was handled.
The concern sharpened because Hurts was reportedly in the hospital the night before the Week 5 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was still able to play in that game, but the hospitalization underscores how serious the situation had become before the Eagles’ public picture of it fully settled.
There is also the matter of what comes next. Hurts is expected to be out for about three months, which means the Eagles are not just dealing with a short-term absence. They are dealing with a stretch that is expected to take him out for the rest of the season, with one report saying he is expected to miss the rest of the 2026 season because of blood clots in his lungs.
That leaves Philadelphia with two separate tasks. The first is obvious: replace a starting quarterback who is out because of a serious medical issue. The second is less straightforward and may linger longer — explaining how the situation was managed, and whether the organization’s leadership handled it responsibly.
Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, said he is expected to recover fully because he will be on blood thinners. He is also expected to remain active around the team and continue to condition while on blood thinners, according to another report. That offers some clarity on the medical outlook, but it does not answer the football questions the Eagles now face.
The team has already lost four straight games, which only adds pressure to every decision around the quarterback room and every public statement about Hurts’ status. But the bigger issue is not the losing streak itself. It is that the Eagles now have to operate with a franchise quarterback sidelined by a diagnosis that has moved from a calf injury to deep vein thrombosis and blood clots in both lungs, while the organization’s handling of the situation remains under scrutiny.
Jeffrey Lurie has been mentioned as the person who should take action, and that reflects how far the conversation has moved beyond injury updates. The Eagles are not only trying to navigate a season without Hurts. They are also being asked to account for how they got here.