Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was ruled out of the team’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, due to a previously undisclosed blood clot.
Although Hurts showed up on the injury report with a calf injury, it only came to light the following day that he had a blood clot in his leg on Oct. 15.
Jalen Hurts Missing Week 6 With Blood Clot in Calf
Ian Rapoport reported that whilst the team had been aware of the clot since Saturday, and Hurts subsequently practiced in full on Wednesday, a follow-up ultrasound last night revealed that there had been movement in the clot, and it was that which ended up causing the medical staff to rule him out of Sunday’s Week 6 matchup.
Although there has not been details as to how long this could keep the Super Bowl champion out for, NFL sports medicine doctors have warned that if this is a deep vein clot, Hurts could miss the rest of the season.
“Oo boy – if this has progressed to a deep vein clot instead of lower risk superficial he could be looking at the end of his season. Treatment for that would be blood thinners often for multiple months and the standard is no contact sports while on blood thinners.” Brian Sutterer MD wrote on X.
Jalen Hurts Could Miss Multiple Weeks or Season – Dr. David Chao.
Sutterer’s analysis was confirmed by Jesse Morse and David Chao; the latter of whom spent 17 years as a head doctor in the NFL for the Chargers before transitioning to online medical sporting analysis. They both stressed that if the blood clot is deep enough as to require anticoagulants – a type of blood thinner – this would effectively rule him out for the rest of 2026.
Best case: precautionary one-week absence. Expected: multiple weeks.
If anticoagulation is required, the absence could extend much longer, potentially including
1. If he undergoes a small surgery to remove the clot (if applicable):
The incision heals in about 7–10 days.
He could miss 1-2 games
2. If the SVT ≥5 cm, or within about 3 cm of the saphenopopliteal junction:
Start standard treatment is about 45
If the clot is superficial, Hurts will just have to sit out 1-2 games, either as a precautionary exercise or to remove a small, shallow clot. If that is not possible, or the clot is deeper he will likely have to miss substantial time – what Chao calls the “expected” case scenario in his post on the situation – and possibly the rest of the season, depending on how long he has to spend on anticoagulants.
In the Eagles’ original statement, the medical staff referred to the clot as “superficial”, which would point to the best case scenario of missing just a game or two. But after noting that there had been “movement” in the clot in the Wednesday ultrasound, it may have gone deeper into the vein, causing it to be far more serious.
Jalen Hurts ‘Expected’ Out Multiple Weeks, Could Miss Season – Ex-NFL Team Doctor