NFL Says Eagles Handled Hurts Blood Clots Properly; Players Union Says League Told It No Review of His Care Is Planned

Since the Eagles disclosed on Monday that Jalen Hurts has deep vein thrombosis and clots in both lungs, the dispute has shifted from his health to who signed off on his care. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the NFL said the Eagles did nothing wrong. The players' union said something different that evening.

The league's position

An NFL spokesperson said the Eagles are not being disciplined over how they handled Hurts' blood clots. The league said its officials were in contact with Eagles medical personnel and the Cleveland Clinic in London throughout his treatment.

"Medical care for players is provided by club medical staff in coordination with independent doctors," the league said. It added that chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills arranges medical resources with leading providers in every international market, with approval from the NFL Players Association.

Sills then spoke to reporters at the league's fall meeting in New York. "I'll just sum it up by saying that I have complete confidence in the Eagles medical staff and their handling of this situation," he said. He described their work as "very conservative, very patient-focused and appropriately guarded at every step."

Sills said the league has seen deep vein thrombosis in "the low single digits" of players in a typical season over the past decade. "Every case gets reviewed and looked at," he said. In Hurts' case, he said, everyone "was incredibly conservative and incredibly vigilant and was very quick to make diagnoses of these conditions that might not have been diagnosed in a non-athlete."

The union's response

The NFLPA put out its own statement Tuesday evening. It criticized the league for drawing conclusions about how the situation was handled. It also said the league told the union it would not review the care Hurts received.

Those two positions sit side by side. The league says it is confident in the Eagles' handling. The union says the league told it no review would take place. The NFL has not said publicly what review, if any, underlies Sills's conclusion.

The timeline in dispute

Hurts, 28, was initially diagnosed with a superficial vein clot in his left calf after being cleated in the Eagles' game against the Rams in early October. He played Oct. 11 in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars, throwing for 222 yards and a touchdown in a 19-17 loss. Follow-up testing then found the clot had moved. He now has DVT in the left leg and bilateral pulmonary emboli, according to the team and his agent, Nicole Lynn.

Reports from NFL insiders said doctors had told Hurts to stay awake overnight after the calf diagnosis and that he went roughly 36 hours without sleep before the London game. The NFL called that "misinformation."

"That was not true and no one told him not to sleep because of his situation," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said. According to McCarthy, the club told all players, coaches and personnel to try to stay awake as long as they could while returning from London. He said the team had no bye week and was trying to keep a normal routine, as other teams do after trips to London.

What the medicine says

Dr. Gita Lisker, a pulmonologist at Northwell's Long Island Jewish Medical Center, told MedPage Today that clots in younger athletes are not unheard of, especially after a leg injury. She said the superficial clot could have spread into a deep vein, or the clots could have existed at the same time and the superficial one was simply caught first.

"Not all DVTs will cause pulmonary embolism, but most pulmonary embolisms come from DVTs," she said. She described anticoagulation as the standard of care, generally lasting three to six months depending on risk factors. Blood thinners raise bleeding risk, so high-impact contact sports are off the table during treatment.

CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, who is not treating Hurts, said it is "too soon to know" whether the condition could end his career. He said doctors would likely test for an underlying issue that raises clotting risk once treatment ends.

The Eagles and Lynn said in a joint statement that Hurts' "prognosis is very good" and that they expect a full recovery with no long-term effects. He is on injured reserve and is expected to miss the rest of the season. The team says he will stay active around the club and keep conditioning.

Fallout in the broadcast booth

NFL Network analyst Michael Robinson, a former fullback who now also appears on CBS Sports, made on-air comments about Hurts' situation that drew backlash. He later apologized on social media to Hurts, his family and the Eagles. Former Eagles receiver Terrell Owens replied that Robinson should apologize on air, writing: "Say your apology ON AIR as you did the DISRESPECT!" Robinson spoke before the Eagles and Lynn released the official diagnosis on Monday.

What comes next

The league says it is satisfied and the union says it was told there would be no review. The NFLPA statement leaves open what independent examination of Hurts' care, if any, will happen before the Eagles return to the question of who plays quarterback.