Jalen Hurts’ blood clot reached his lungs. On Monday, Oct. 19, the Eagles and Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, announced that he has a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his left leg and pulmonary emboli in both lungs. He’s on blood thinners and can’t do any contact activity. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter report that doctors found multiple clots in his lungs, that treatment will sideline him for at least three months, and that he’s expected to miss the rest of the 2026 season.
The joint statement says Hurts is “clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations,” that “Jalen’s prognosis is very good, and we expect a full recovery,” and that the team anticipates “no long-term effects.” From what’s been made public, we don’t think his career is in serious danger. Our reasons are below, along with the three things that would change our minds.
Jalen Hurts in London on Oct. 11, the day after doctors found the first clot. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Correction to our earlier call: On Oct. 17 we wrote that the clot was most likely superficial, projected a Week 11 or 12 return, and told you to hold Hurts. Monday’s diagnosis was the “bad case” in that post. The fantasy advice below replaces it.
We haven’t seen Hurts’ imaging or test results. Everything medical here comes from the team’s statement and from doctors quoted by ESPN, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Billy Penn, most of whom have not treated him.
From a Cleat to Both Lungs: The Timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Sun, Oct. 4 | Hurts gets stepped on (“cleated”) in the calf during the loss to the Rams. |
| Thu–Fri, Oct. 8–9 | Calf treatment after practice. He’s added to the injury report Friday and flies to London that night. |
| Sat, Oct. 10 | An ultrasound in London finds a superficial clot in his left calf. NFL Network reports he was at the hospital until 4 a.m. |
| Sun, Oct. 11 | He plays every offensive snap in the 19-17 loss to Jacksonville (21 of 40, 220 yards, 1 TD), then flies home with the team. |
| Wed, Oct. 14 | Full practice. A follow-up ultrasound that night shows the clot has moved. |
| Thu–Sat, Oct. 15–17 | Ruled out for Carolina, then placed on injured reserve. |
| Sun, Oct. 18 | Tanner McKee starts. The Eagles lose 25-14 and fall to 2-4. |
| Mon, Oct. 19 | The team and Lynn announce the DVT and bilateral pulmonary emboli. |
What a Pulmonary Embolism Is
A DVT is a clot in one of the large veins that run through the muscle, usually in the leg. A pulmonary embolism (PE) happens when part of that clot breaks loose, travels through the heart and lodges in the arteries of the lungs. “Bilateral” means it happened on both sides. Hurts’ first clot was in a superficial vein just under the skin of his calf. By Monday, doctors had also found a clot in a deep vein of his leg and clots in both lungs.
Dr. Heather Giannini told Billy Penn that a PE can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations and a racing heart, and less often fainting or dangerously low oxygen. Untreated, it can kill. The Mayo Clinic, as cited by Pro Football Talk, says about a third of people with an undiagnosed, untreated PE don’t survive. Hurts may have felt little or nothing. Dr. Thomas Meyer of Main Line Health told the Inquirer that was possible, and Dr. Jordan Schaefer, a University of Michigan clot specialist, told ESPN that fit athletes can show fewer PE symptoms than the rest of us. “He’s lucky his doctors found it while it was still small and easily treatable,” Temple Health’s Dr. Parth Rali told the Inquirer.
Why blood thinners end his season
Blood thinners (anticoagulants) stop new clots from forming while the body slowly breaks down the ones already there. They also make it much harder to stop bleeding. A hit that would leave a normal player with a bruise can cause dangerous internal bleeding in a player on full-dose thinners, which is why Schaefer told ESPN that “contact sports are generally avoided” during treatment.
The standard course for a DVT with PE is at least three months, followed by a reassessment. “Three months is the minimum time,” Rali said. Three months from Oct. 19 is Jan. 19, after the regular season ends. Even if everything goes perfectly, Hurts won’t play another regular-season snap in 2026.
Is Jalen Hurts’ Career at Risk?
Probably not. The answer depends mostly on whether his doctors consider the clot provoked.
Provoked clots usually come with an end date
A provoked clot has a clear, temporary trigger, such as surgery, an injury or a long stretch of immobility. Hurts has two candidates. Dr. William Gray told Billy Penn that the traumatic calf injury makes this a “provoked” case, which he said is less likely to lead to future clots. Meyer pointed to the cleat plus immobility on the transatlantic flights: “Could it be immobility plus trauma resulted in the formation of a clot?”
That label decides how long he stays on blood thinners. The CHEST guidelines that doctors use recommend three months of anticoagulation for a clot provoked by a temporary risk factor, then stopping. A clot with no clear cause, or one that comes back, often leads to blood thinners with no end date. No team doctor clears a player on indefinite full-dose thinners for tackle football.
Three things that would change our call
First, a clotting disorder. Doctors usually look for an inherited or acquired tendency to clot, and a positive finding could push him toward long-term treatment. Second, a new clot after he comes off blood thinners, which would make it much harder to call this a one-time event. Third, lasting lung damage. In a small share of PE patients, the clots scar and narrow the lung arteries, a condition called chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. The team’s statement says it expects no long-term effects, and nothing reported so far points to any of the three.
Athletes who came back, and two who didn’t
| Athlete | Clot | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Victor Wembanyama, Spurs | DVT in his right shoulder, Feb. 2025 | Missed the last 30 games of that season. Came back in 2025-26, won Defensive Player of the Year and reached the NBA Finals. |
| Christian Barmore, Patriots | Clots found before the 2024 season | Returned in November 2024, had a setback in December, then played all 17 games in 2025. |
| Trey Smith, Tennessee | Lung clots during the 2018 college season | Missed the rest of 2018, was cleared for 2019 and went on to the NFL. |
| Chris Olave, Saints | Lung clot late last season | Missed one game. |
| Chris Bosh, Heat | Lung clot in 2015, leg clot in 2016 | The clots came back a year apart. The NBA ruled his condition career-ending in 2017. |
| Billy Price, former NFL lineman | Saddle clot in both lungs at age 29, removed in emergency surgery | Doctors found no cause. He retired because the blood thinners he needed made the bleeding risk “tremendous.” |
Hurts lines up with the first group. His clot had an obvious trigger, doctors caught it while it was small, and nobody has reported a recurrence. Bosh and Price had something Hurts doesn’t, at least so far: Bosh’s clots came back, and Price’s doctors never found a reason for his.
Our diagnosis: Low risk. Expect Hurts, who turned 28 in August, to be the Eagles’ starter in Week 1 of 2027. The checkpoint is late January. If he comes off blood thinners then without a new clot, the risk drops further.
What It Means for the Eagles
Philadelphia has lost four straight and sits at 2-4. In McKee’s first start the offense gained 222 net yards, its second-lowest total of the season, and ran for 35 yards with Saquon Barkley out. McKee went 26 of 45 for 215 yards and a touchdown and took three sacks. He’s a 2023 sixth-round pick who was the third-stringer until 12 days before that game, when Nick Sirianni moved him ahead of Andy Dalton. The Eagles have since released Dalton. Rookie fifth-rounder Cole Payton is the backup, and the team signed Joe Milton off Dallas’ practice squad.
After the loss, Sirianni said “everything’s on the table” for an offense looking for a spark. Next up: Dallas on Monday Night Football, then at Washington and home against the Giants before a Week 10 bye. Trade speculation has already started. Sportsnaut lists Kirk Cousins, Jacoby Brissett and Mac Jones among possible targets. Those are suggestions, not reported talks.
The team will also face questions about how it handled the first clot. Hurts played a full game in London hours after leaving the hospital, then sat on a seven-hour flight home, and long flights are a known clot risk. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio questioned whether the clot was taken seriously enough from the start. CBS Sports noted that Sirianni was the only senior team official to take questions and didn’t directly answer why Hurts was cleared to fly. “I’m not a medical expert,” Sirianni said.
Fantasy Football Fallout
| Player | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Jalen Hurts (redraft) | Drop | His earliest possible return is after the fantasy playoffs. An IR slot costs you nothing, but it won’t pay you back either. In one-QB leagues, our Week 7 Free Agent Triage has Aaron Rodgers as the top stream. |
| Jalen Hurts (dynasty) | Hold, or buy | A provoked clot with an expected full recovery shouldn’t change his 2027 value much. If a nervous manager in your league sells at a discount, make the offer. |
| Tanner McKee | Superflex/2QB add | He’ll throw a lot with a thin backfield, and DraftKings Network says all three of his next opponents rank in the top 10 in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. In one-QB leagues, he’s a bye-week fill-in at best. |
| DeVonta Smith | Low-end WR2 | He drew 14 targets from McKee and caught 7 for 75 yards and a touchdown. The volume looks safe. The touchdowns won’t come as often with a backup throwing to him. |
| Saquon Barkley | RB2 when healthy | He hasn’t played since hurting his hamstring on his first carry against the Rams on Oct. 4. When he’s back, defenses no longer have to account for Hurts running, so expect more crowded boxes and fewer yards per carry. Volume keeps him in lineups. |
| Dallas Goedert | TE1/TE2 fringe | Eight targets and a 6-61 line against Carolina. McKee averaged under 5 yards per attempt, and short targets like Goedert’s are what that offense can complete. |
| Dameon Pierce | Flex while Barkley sits | He took all 12 running back carries against Carolina, scoring once and adding four catches. His value disappears when Barkley returns. |
Hurts wasn’t having a big fantasy year before this. Through five games he completed 57.8% of his passes for 933 yards, 8 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and added 107 rushing yards and a score. A waiver-wire quarterback can cover most of that. Track the rest of the Eagles on our Injury Report.
Jalen Hurts Pulmonary Embolism FAQ
Is Jalen Hurts out for the season?
Almost certainly. He’s on injured reserve and blood thinners, and reports say treatment will last at least three months. That runs past the end of the regular season.
Is Jalen Hurts’ career over?
Unlikely. Doctors quoted by Billy Penn describe his clot as provoked by a calf injury, which usually means a fixed course of blood thinners. The team expects a full recovery with no long-term effects.
What is a pulmonary embolism?
A blood clot, usually from a deep vein in the leg, that breaks loose and blocks an artery in the lungs. Hurts has clots in both lungs, called bilateral pulmonary emboli.
When will Jalen Hurts return?
Mid-January 2027 at the earliest. Realistically, the 2027 offseason program, once he’s off blood thinners and cleared for contact.
Who is the Eagles’ starting quarterback now?
Tanner McKee, with rookie Cole Payton as the backup.
Should I drop Jalen Hurts in fantasy?
In redraft leagues, yes. In dynasty leagues, hold him.
A swollen, warm, painful calf, especially after a long flight or a leg injury, is worth getting checked. If you also have sudden shortness of breath or chest pain, go to the emergency room.
Sources
- Pro Football Talk: Hurts has deep vein thrombosis, multiple pulmonary embolisms (team statement)
- ESPN: Hurts expected to miss season after clots found in lungs
- ESPN: Hurts’ blood clot diagnosis explained (Dr. Jordan Schaefer)
- Billy Penn: Why Hurts is out for the foreseeable future (timeline, Drs. Gray and Giannini)
- Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly specialists explain Hurts’ pulmonary embolism
- CBS Sports: Biggest unanswered questions for the Eagles
- Yahoo Sports: History of blood clots in pro athletes
- AOL: Billy Price retires after pulmonary embolism
- Philadelphia Inquirer: Panthers 25, Eagles 14
- PhiladelphiaEagles.com: Jaguars 19, Eagles 17 recap
- NBC Sports Philadelphia: McKee takes over, Dalton released
- Sports Illustrated: Fantasy fallout across the Eagles’ offense
- DraftKings Network: Week 7 waiver wire (McKee schedule)
- Sportsnaut: Eagles QB trade targets
- StatSniper: Jalen Hurts 2026 game log
Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 20. We’ll update this post if the Eagles share more about his treatment or the cause of the clot.
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