Jalen Hurts blood clot: Expert weighs in on Eagles’ situation, and when QB could return to the field

news A cardiologist weighs in on how Hurts’ condition contrasts with DVTs, basic treatment techniques and what might figure out the healing timeline

Oct 17, 2026

at 4:07 pm ET

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6 minutes checked out

Jalen Hurts’ 2026 season was placed on time out today, as the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was identified with a shallow embolism that had actually experienced some motion and the group positioned him on IR on Saturday.

The group detected the embolisms and notified the league of Hurts ‘circumstance recently, however he was cleared to wear and play in their Week 5 London loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. After a follow-up ultrasound exposed motion in the embolisms, the group revealed that Hurts would need to remain for a minimum of one week while they treated him. It at first appeared like the quarterback would prevent hurt reserve, however ESPN reported Saturday afternoon that after assessments with medical professionals and specialists, the Eagles chose to put Hurts on hurt reserve– indicating he will miss out on a minimum of the next 4 video games.

What is a shallow embolism and just how much time could Hurts miss out on? CBS Sports talked to Dr. Henry Han at UT Southwestern to get some responses. Dr. Han is a board accredited cardiologist that operates at the crossway of cardiology and vascular medication. He has actually seen clot-related illness, illness associated with aneurysms, tears in capillary, and is extremely acquainted with shallow vein apoplexy.

Exactly what is Jalen Hurts handling?

A shallow embolism might be categorized as “superficial thrombophlebitis,” or a lot easier term: “superficial vein thrombosis.”

Dr. Han: “Basically it’s a blood clot that’s in one of the veins that’s on the surface level underneath the skin. We typically find it in the leg, sometimes we find it in the arm. What happens is when the clot forms there, the vein gets inflamed. And so the area turns really red, it gets warm and it gets tender.”

What’s the distinction in between a shallow embolisms and the ‘deep vein apoplexy’ (DVT) that we’ve seen in sports?

This is a scenario that is worthy of tracking, however it’s likewise not the more major “deep vein thrombosis” we’ve seen in sports before. Spurs super star Victor Wembanyama, for instance, was required to miss out on the last 30 video games of the 2024-25 season after physicians found deep vein apoplexy in his best shoulder. There’s two-time NBA champ Chris Bosh, who was required to retire early due to a clotting condition.

Dr. Han: “Superficial clots that sit near the surface on your surface veins are a lot less dangerous compared to the DVT (deep vein thrombosis). In sports we hear about the DVTs that for some athletes end up being sort of career-enders. The interesting part is that the superficial vein thromboses typically are not dangerous to that degree and the treatment for what you would need for both is a little bit different as well.”

Exactly what triggered this?

In their declaration launched on Thursday, the Eagles stated that 4 days after the Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Hurts asked for treatment on his calf. He thought he was kicked or cleated in the video game.

It’s real that injury to the location might have triggered this embolism, however we just do not have sufficient info to state that definitively.

Dr. Han: “I can’t speak to the exact specific case, but sort of generalities, anything that irritates a vein or slows the blood flow can trigger it. So we actually see this for people who have gotten IVs or blood draws when you have a needle in the vein that causes the irritation and damage. Other things too, like long flights. We know that certain hormone medications, pregnancy for women. But definitely trauma is one of the major causes that can cause this sort of superficial thrombophlebitis.”

What are the treatment alternatives?

There are various cases of NFL gamers missing out on time due to embolism. Take Carolina Panthers star right take on Taylor Moton for instance, who hasn’t dipped into all this season since physicians discovered embolism in his lung this summertime. That circumstance needed Moton to right away be put on blood slimmers.

Moton having actually embolism discovered in among his lungs is a lot more severe scenario than shallow thrombophlebitis. It differs case to case, naturally, however treatments for what Hurts has actually been detected with can in some cases be easy.

Dr. Han: “Usually what we wind up providing for requirement of care is that within the very first week, you can really for a great deal of clients and a great deal of individuals, you can in fact do conservative treatment, which includes things like anti-inflammatory medications, things like ibuprofen or naproxen, remaining active, keeping the leg raised, compression as sort of the very first line.

“In these kinds of situations, we actually often think that the superficial thrombophlebitis is a self-contained issue. Usually what I do for my patients is that we do a follow-up scan either 7 or 14 days after the fact. 
And if we see that the quality of the clot has changed, whether the clot is extended or it has moved or we do find it in deeper veins, then that kind of changes the equation for being more aggressive with treatments, which would include things as we typically do for deep vein thrombosis, the DVTs. That would be the full-on blood thinners, anticoagulants.”

Could Hurts need blood slimmers?

Dr. Han: “If it’s for superficial thrombophlebitis, not every case needs to be treated with blood thinners.
The cases that I treat with blood thinners are for patients that are have the clots that are getting longer or building up, so to speak, or if the patients are profoundly symptomatic with lots of pain that ibuprofen and warm compresses and elevating legs and wearing a compression garment is not cutting it. For those patients, then we do often think about reaching towards anticoagulants, blood thinners. Although the period for treatment for superficial thrombophlebitis is actually much shorter than what we would treat for DVTs. The treatment here is usually a month and a half, 45 days of treatment is sufficient, whereas the DVT sometimes is lifelong, sometimes it’s between three to six months.”

When could Hurts return?

Everybody needs to know: when could the Eagles quarterback go back to the field? Considering that this is not a worst-case circumstance like deep vein apoplexy, we asked Dr. Han before Hurts was put on hurt reserve if there was any possibility he might miss out on simply a couple of weeks

2 essential elements are whether he needs blood slimmers and whether this embolism is undoubtedly a self-contained concern.

Dr. Han: “It is possible. Again, just because I don’t know the details of the case.
The risk as I see it is being on a blood thinner and playing a contact sport would put him at extremely high risk of bleeding. And that’s all bleeding complications — blood trauma, but also internal bleeding. Oftentimes for athletics to this degree, it becomes a very strong safety consideration for being able to play or not. It’s also a little hard for me to speculate if their phrasing for it — ‘It’s moving’ — means that there are clots in other places, then the timeline for when he might come back is a lot harder for me to say.

“I would state the requirement is if he was on blood slimmers for simply shallow thrombophlebitis that might be– for symptomatic treatment– that might be upwards of 45 days for treatment. If there are extenuating scenarios that would have advanced or made it more hazardous or had actually turned into a deep vein apoplexy or something like that, then the treatment times might be much longer.”