EMERGENCY POD: JALEN HURTS RULED OUT FOR THE REST OF 2026

You are listening to the Go Birds Podcast. Hey, hello. It is the Go Birds Podcast, sponsored by Ashley, the number one furniture and mattress store in America. It is our favorite mattress and furniture store in the world. We love it. Ashley's the best. Obviously, wasn't expecting to be recording a pod now, and it's certainly not one of those fun emergency pods. Like, oh, cool trade they made or whatever. This sucks, it's horrible. Obviously, I'm sure people have heard, but the announcement came out kind of leaking, and then the Eagles' statement, I don't know which came first, but... I believe the statement came first. Yeah, I had a feeling it might have. Jalen Hurts, officially done for the season. Here's the statement from the Philadelphia Eagles. It just says, over the last few days, Jalen Hurts has received comprehensive medical evaluations by physician experts in the interest of transparency. We're providing additional information on the diagnosis and treatment plan related to his condition. Jalen was initially diagnosed by specialists in London with a left calf superficial vein thrombosis. After further testing and monitoring, the current diagnosis is a deep vein thrombosis as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli. She's... I'm happy you are reading this statement. He is clinically stable and is in significant... I think it's important to say what's actually happening, you know, is in their words, you know. He is clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations. His treatment should only involve anti-coagulation, i.e. blood thinners during his time. He will not be allowed to participate in any contact activities, including football. Jalen's prognosis is very good and we expect full recovery. We anticipate that he will have the opportunity to resume contact football activities and off the blood thinners. In the meantime, we will remain active around the team and continue to condition. More importantly, we anticipate that he will have no long-term effects. We are thinking of Jalen and looking forward to a strong recovery. Another just add-on is not from the Eagles, but Tom Pellissara putting out, because it's important to the discussion, this extra information that he put out after commit, how committed is Jalen Hurts to football? After initially being diagnosed with a superficial blood clot in London, doctors told him not to sleep as a precaution. So he's been away for only 36 hours when he started the game against the Jaguars, throwing for 220 yards untouched. Obviously, there's so much with this, and we'll do an emergency pod now to react. We'll do another one tomorrow to talk about more implications of it all. But just off the top, obviously, the main thing is we're all thinking of Jalen right now. I mean, no bigger Jalen pod, no bigger Jalen fans at WIP, all that than you and me. We've been supporting him from the jump. We love the guy. We think he is the perfect person to represent a franchise. He has done nothing. People can criticize his play. He has done nothing but carry himself with the utmost dignity and honor. And whatever else you want to say as the quarterback of the Eagles, as good a representative of this city, of a team, as I've seen in my time in the city. So, you know, and obviously want a Super Bowl clutch, all these things, a gamer cares, all that stuff. So we just want him to be OK, you know, first and foremost. The thing that makes this like so uncomfortable is it really feels like there was some poor decisions made along the way here. Real quick, real quick, just let me finish and I'll get to you, because I think the report came out that Jalen's team was going to make the decisions from ESPN a little bit ago. And then this Pellissara thing where it's like, yes, maybe Jalen wanted to play, but if he's in the hospital and awake for 36 hours before a game and has a blood clot, you don't let him play. That is your job as an organization. You say, sorry, man, this is not worth it. Like, we can't let you play in this situation. I don't care if it's a freaking playoff game, you don't let this guy play. It's crazy to me. So we'll get into all of it, but like off the top, without all the information, I know we don't have everything, but I feel like the Eagles absolutely failed Jalen Hurts here. And I think, and it feels like we'll get into, seems like there might be mistrust, who knows with the reporting, but ultimately I think the Eagles have an obligation in that spot to say, we're not letting you play. Wins and losses don't matter as much as the potential outcome which you played out with where it got worse. Yeah, so I would just say first, like before we get into that, just my piece on like this as a whole. The first thing I would say is like, the good news is, the end of that says, he expects to make a full recovery. And it does not appear this is going to be career threatening, right? It doesn't appear that he will never play football again. And if it appears as of now, the expectation is he will play again. But I'll be honest in saying that one of my first thoughts when I heard this was like a reflection of his career, right? And this is the first time in his career, he's going to miss significant time. And I think it puts in a perspective how much he's been able to accomplish in his career so far in the five years. Playoffs every year, 65 total wins including playoffs, two Super Bowl appearances, one Super Bowl win, legitimately on a hall of fame track. Like that is where that his career was heading, right? And it still is if he returns and I think he will play football again is the indication, right? But I think that when it is a serious, scary injury like this, it does put things in perspective. And I hope that what this puts in a perspective is just everything he has accomplished for this franchise. Like we have talked about him as being the best quarterback in franchise history. He could never play another snap for this team. And I think he is the best quarterback in franchise history. And I'm not doing this to say that I don't think he will or whatever, but just being honest, my initial takeaway was just the perspective of his career. The other part of it is, I have a bit of a different angle on this because I've been around Jalen since he was drafted. Obviously 2020 COVID year, not as much, but since the run really started, like him as a starter, I've been around Jalen. And it is just scary to think that that is happening to him. You know, like he has a family, he has a wife, he has friends, his teammates are friends. And so we will eventually discuss this from a football perspective because that is just the reality of the situation. Like the football goes on. That just is the harsh reality of the NFL. The Eagles will continue to play games. They will play a season next year and they'll play many more seasons after that. But for right now, I think that what really strikes me is just how frustrating this has to be for Jalen, right? Like he is now being taken off the field. And upsetting for sure. But that's what I mean. Like the Jalen I know, and I'm not going to pretend like we're best friends or I know him super well, like he is cut off, right? That is just like, I think who you have to be to be the Eagles quarterback. But the Jalen I know eat, sleeps and breeze football. And to have that taken away from him, in let's be honest, such a crucial year for him, like contractually, right? So I can only imagine the frustration, the anger at all this, the scariness of it, having to put into perspective your health as opposed to focusing on football has to be a shift for him. So that would be my big picture takeaway just about this news within itself. So if we want to get into the handling of it, here's what I would say. My opinion of this, right? And everyone's going to have different opinions of this. I get it. I personally struggle to question the doctors in this instance because I don't know anything about this. I don't know the right way to handle it. I don't know what is safe, what is not. I tend to agree with you that if he has been awake for 36 hours, there needs to be serious consideration taken to not playing him. And Nick will talk later today. I will ask Nick, was there consideration into not playing Jalen if it is true he was up for 36 straight hours? And I also agree with you that the Eagles, to a certain degree, have to be the adult in the room. It might be admirable that Jalen wants to play, but there needs to be people to protect Jalen. There's also the reality that Jalen is a very important entity within itself, and if he wants to play and his team wants him to play, it is a complicated decision. So I completely understand that from the outside looking in, this looks like a very complicated, potentially mishandled situation. I'm not even defending the team here. All I'm saying is, me personally, when it comes to medical stuff, I just like to give the doctors the benefit of the doubt. I like to think that the doctors in London, the team doctors, had Jalen's best interests at heart. So that is where I fall on it. But I do understand not playing, not sleeping for 36 hours and playing in a game. Like I want to know what consideration was given to not playing him. Well, yeah, especially when, especially look, the 36 hours, thinking the night in the hospital, all that. And again, I am sure Jalen wanted to play. Like that's, you know, he's a competitor. He's the way Pellis are phrases that too. It's like how commitment it committed. He clearly wanted to play. But to the point there, I mean, we've talked about this so many times over the years in so many spots. But at a certain point, like you have to protect the player from his selves, especially in football. And here's the thing, the 36 hours alone. But whatever the doctor said, like obviously the doctors had to acknowledge there was some sort of risk, right? That he had a blood clot, period, right? And whether or not, like they said, he had a superficial one. And now it's not. Now it's a deep vein thrombosis that has gone to his lungs. So like... But that's different. That is different than when they made the decision to make him play. I just think that's important to point out. But it happened when he played. My point is, is that because of playing potentially, it got worse. You know what I mean? And maybe it would have happened anyway, but if he doesn't play, if they just treat him immediately, like is it likely to have gotten worse? Who knows? But the fact that it did get worse, there is no excuse. Well, but I think it's important to state like the doctors- Just don't play the guy with the blood clot! No, I know. Just say, hey, Jalen, you have a blood clot. The doctors are like, maybe they said he can play, but I guarantee you it wasn't like he's 100% fine, nothing worse can happen. Well, but to be fair, you can't guarantee that. Like you don't know. You don't know what the doctor said. Something worse happened though. But like- And they were wrong, if not. But this could have happened if he played or not. Like we don't know if playing impacted it. We don't know what the doctor said. My guess is the doctors probably said to the Eagles and Jalen and his team, it is safe for you to play in this football game. That would be my guess, right? Cause we're just guessing. I like to think that if the doctor said, there is risk in you taking the field, that they wouldn't have played him, right? I tend to believe from being around the Eagles, being around Jalen and his team, that if there was risk to him playing in that game, he would not have played. Now, to your point about it getting worse, I don't know if playing... I get your point, man. But again, like you combine the 36 hours with the blood clot? Like, what are we doing here? No, I agree with you about the 36 hours. At what point do we say, you know what? We're just gonna care about the player. Yes. Right? Like seriously. But to be fair, me and you talk all the time about what an amazing owner Jeffrey Lurie is, right? And how caring he is and all these things and how he takes care of his players. Like of course, Jeffrey was made abreast of what is going on with this, right? So I like to believe that the Eagles made the correct decision with the best interests of the player because they are a franchise that I think has earned the benefit of the doubt. So right. So so I again, I understand the only decision for the best interest of the players not to play him like, but why do you think they played him? Because I like I think there's a zillion potential reasons. We don't know. Like I don't want to get into conspiracy theories. Like, but I think there could be multiple reasons. Maybe they wanted to win the football game. Maybe it was because it was an international game that the whole world's watching. But do the Eagles strike you as a team that would do that? No, I'm not saying that it was like, it was a definitive like, like maybe it was like likely that he wasn't going to get worse or this, that, but my point is like, he had a blood clot in his leg and he didn't sleep for 36 hours. Like, I don't really need to know more information than that. Like that just feels like a, hey, don't play the guy in the football game. Like, you know, like I just, I don't need like, it feels like you almost don't need to talk to the doctors. He has a blood clot, they say you have to stay up. And he stays up for 36 hours. It's like, all right, Jalen, you know what? We probably shouldn't do this. Yeah. So look, I would say that with the information of having a blood clot in his leg, hasn't slept for 36 hours. And if like, if Jalen was my brother or my friend, like I would say for sure, that's what I would say, right? But what I would say is we only have two pieces of information that is not the complete picture. That's all I'm saying. I get it, but we need more of a picture than blood clot in 36 hours. Do we need more than that? Well, but yeah, I think you need all the information because we don't even... I hope we do, man. I think the saddest thing to do is to play him, is to not play him in that situation. But the Eagles and the Doctors obviously didn't feel that way. And I think the benefit of being a good organization that we have talked very highly of for a long time is in these situations, and I think you deserve the benefit of the doubt. Good organizations can make mistakes. They can make mistakes, but I think if they made a mistake, it was with the best intention. The Eagles have been a great organization in terms of winning and Jeffrey and how he do things right. But they have also been an organization that has had chaos all eight years of this amazing run. And they've had infighting and they've had leaks and they've had all kinds of team leaks and stuff. It's not like they have been flawless in the way they've been run. I get what you're saying, but they are a good organization who wins. But they don't do everything right. For sure, 100 percent. And we have the medical staff issues prior to the great run. You remember that whole thing? Yeah. So again, I get your point. And look, I do think that without all the information, you're right, it's like we can't say anything 100 percent definitively. It just feels like a situation where, and again, it got worse. But I just don't understand if he has to live for 36 hours with a blood clot, like how you would risk it, like whether it just feels like, what are we doing here? And like I've said, I would not have played him off of the two pieces of information. So me and you are on the same page. The only difference I think I feel, and I don't even know if- I'm blaming the organization. Yeah. It's just like, I just, I personally like to think everybody made the best decision they could make as information came. I know, but that's a little Pollyanna. It is, but it's different when like- Because they haven't, and like, look, Chris Maragos won like what? But millions of dollars from the organization. Yeah, I mean, that was like 10 years ago. I know it was, but I'm just saying the Eagles were, that would- no, not 10 years ago, whatever. It was a Super Bowl champion. The point was that was still a Super Bowl winning organization that happened with. So I'm just saying that, and again, I'm not saying that it's something like that, or that Jalen's going to sue them down there, or whatever. I'm just saying that just because they've been a well-run organization doesn't mean they're infallible. Yeah, no, I agree. And look, I don't have all the information yet. So it's possible they made a mistake. But again, I am fine with questioning them on why did they draft whoever? Why did they go for it on Fort Down? Why did they hire this guy? Why did they fire this guy? Why isn't the locker room nicer? Why isn't the plane more comfortable? Those things, I am- look, you've done the pod with me for almost 10 years. I'm very comfortable questioning the organization. I'm just saying personally, when it comes to doctors trying to make decisions about a person's health, like, I hesitate to be like, how could they do this? Because I think they made the best decision they could. And, you know, we're kind of going in circles here. But like, I- like, all the people mad online about that Jalen went through this, like, I agree with the feeling of anger. Like, obviously, some- like, obviously, there were a lot of tough decisions made, and the result is it got worse. Now, I don't know, it's very possible. There's no decision they could have made to prevent this from getting worse, right? Like, it could have maybe just- it was going to get worse. And so, I just- that's where- that's where I fall in it. But- but just to move this conversation forward- Real quick, I get your point. Just before you move on from that thing, I get your point, but like, the history of the NFL has- is littered with teams and- and- Yeah. Doctors and this and that, who have at times whether- you know, because they once were not been like, now you know, he could play and he shouldn't have. Whether concussions is to that or whatever. Like, so I get your point, but I can't just assume that everyone made the right decisions. You hope that? And maybe they didn't. It just played out poorly. But like, I think that like, forgetting what the doctor said, I think the coaches, the front office, the Eagles should have said, despite whatever the doctors say, this man has a blood clot and has not slept for 36 hours. We're in London. We're not going to play. So again, I tend to fall on that side with you. I'm just saying, from my time being around Jeffrey Lurie, I like to think that with the information he had, he made the right decision just from knowing him and like what type of person he is. And look, again, maybe he didn't have all the information. Maybe like he was aware of it, but like he didn't have the everything he knows what happened. But the next thing I would say to move it forward is like, were Jalen and his team on the same page as the Eagles, that will come out on this, right? Was everybody on the same page? Who knows? For all we know, the Eagles could have been like, we don't want you to play. And Jalen's like, well, you didn't pay me a contract this off season. If I miss time, it impacts my value. I'm getting out there. Or it could be Jalen didn't want to play and the Eagles are like, we really think you should. We don't know any of that, right? But I do think when there are health-related issues, as you mentioned with Chris Maragos, and even when I talked to Landon on the players lounge earlier this year, he mentioned he has a team of doctors he brought around and they're working with the Eagles. It said in the ESPN reporting on Saturday, Jalen and his team and the Eagles are going to follow Jalen's team's lead. Players get independent decisions of what is going to happen with their body. So this is all just speculation, but I think the next thing to come out and to find out will be, like, are Jalen and the Eagles on the same page with this, right? Like, have they felt each step of the way? Because even the fact Saturday morning it was reported he wasn't going to go on IR, and then a few hours later as it was, like, you know, what does that mean? So, yeah, I agree, like, that there is more information to come out about this. Now, the next... Real quick, before you move on from that, I get your point, but like teams have to say to players and their teams, I'm sorry, I get it, if like, if the team wants the player to play and he doesn't want to play, that's a weird situation. But like, if Jalen was like, I want to play, the team is still the Philadelphia Eagles. They still make decisions steps on the field and you say, Jalen, listen, I'm sorry and I'm sorry if you're upset about this, but we can't let you do that. It's like, you know. And like, again, that's where I tend to lean off the two pieces of information we have. Right. So I like, I'm not saying they made the right decision. I'm just, you know, like, I don't know all the information. Now, the next part of this is like whether he should have played, shouldn't have played, whatever. I mean, the dude played on 36 hours without sleep going out there. Like it is, I think, from just like a warrior. Yeah. Like from a teammate standpoint of this guy putting it all out on the field. Yeah. And I mean, I'll be honest, too. Like, you know, we analyzed that game and talked about that game without knowing he had a blood clot. Yeah. Like, oh, he didn't run. I was like, why didn't you run? Now, the running thing has been a thing for a year and a half. So I think that's a little more in this particular game. Like with a yeah, for sure. Yeah. So like there's that part of the heavy and all that stuff. It's like, like I was saying, like, you know, he needed to be more special. Like had I known he hadn't slept for 36 hours in a blood clot, that would obviously change how you view the game. So so that's part of it as well. So I think like from a Jalen perspective, I don't know if you want to talk about from a team perspective, but like from a Jalen perspective now, the it feels like Icky to talk about this, but it's like, so what is his future now? Like he's not going to play again for the, he's not going to play again this season, excuse me, not going to play again this season for the Eagles. So like we know he has almost no guaranteed money in his contract beyond this year. I think an initial reaction to this will be he's probably played his last snap with the team, right? Because there's a decision to be made. I would counter to that in saying that had he played all year, then I think you could have seen a contract negotiation where Jalen wants a new deal, the Eagles don't want to pay him and like they part ways. An interesting aspect of this now, and like a sad aspect of it from Jalen's perspective is, he's going to miss basically the whole season with blood clots. And like maybe he just plays next year on his current deal. You know, like I think we all just assumed the Eagles are going to move on from him. Finding somebody as good as Jalen is not easy. And like, if you don't have to double down on him financially and give him another 150 million guaranteed, there's a real world where the best path forward for this team and maybe for Jalen is just to keep playing it on his current deal. Like I think he's still set to make like over $30 million. It's not like he's playing for pennies next year. So to everyone, you know, everyone listening, when you hear people say Jalen's probably played his last snap with the team, I think in like a twisted way, like this almost increases the chance he's back next year because it makes the contract thing potentially less complicated. Like he just plays next year. Yeah. I think the one caveat to that is the part we don't know is that what's the relationship with the organization. Well, yes. Yeah. But I agree. I think if Jalen isn't mad at the organization, if he wanted to play, who knows what it is, then yeah, I think that you're right about that. I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So we'll see. And then I think from a team perspective, like it's funny how things change. From a team perspective, we're talking about the offense. Me and you have been texting about it, and I'm not revealing texts, but I think we are on the same page of the offense is struggling because guys aren't playing. They are an injured team. Yeah, there's a lot of issues, but the biggest thing is the defense by far. And I think a part of this now is just like the toughness of losing lane to retirement and Jalen to blood clots from a locker room perspective is extremely difficult. And it's really hard just to play through those things. Imagine if, God forbid, someone at WIP, one of our friends at WIP, the main people at WIP, got blood clots and was out for four months. And then someone else retired because they were having a personal situation they were dealing with. How hard it would be to go to work every day and to do our job, right? And especially a public facing job. Now our job's a little different because we have to show personality and stuff. The Eagles don't have to do that as much. But the point I'm making is, if anyone listening, put yourself in, I don't know, Devontae Smith shoes. You've played with lane your whole career. You've played with Jalen your whole career. Like Devontae was, you know, like Jalen was at Devontae's wedding. So there is a human aspect to this of like going to work to prepare for this Cowboys game. Like it's got to be super difficult. And so one of the main things this team needs to work on, like outside of this situation is like focus. That's what Jordan Milata said, like not making mental mistakes. I don't know how you don't make mental mistakes with everything going on here. So like even evaluating this team becomes much more difficult because they're playing with a backup quarterback and they're dealing with, you know, frankly off the top of my head, like maybe the most upsetting teammate situation I can think of in season in my time covering the team. Like the franchise quarterback being out for the year with blood clots in his lungs. And the, I mean, think about the captains on the team. Jalen's a captain, he's out for the year. Lane's a captain, he's retired. It's like the toughness of going through that from a team perspective, where they really need to turn this around, this adds a very like tough layer of difficulty to that. Yeah. No, and then like, you know, a couple more losses, like we talked about, how he's maybe making trades and they're- But the flip side too is a couple more wins and they're right back in this thing. Yeah, and the division's open, yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating. All right. Anything else before we, we'll be back tomorrow with another pod and go deeper on everything. Anything else on the emergency side? I mean, there's the McKee aspect of it. That might be a longer discussion tomorrow. Yeah. I mean, today's about Jalen. And yeah, we just hope it's more than football when it comes to this stuff. You know, it's a very tough situation. It's a scary situation. And yeah, I mean, this is there will be more to talk about with this. But to your point, I think just like it's got it like this past week has to have been just so hard for Jalen, which is, I think, the main takeaway. Yeah, I agree. All right. We will talk tomorrow about this more. Maybe more information comes out. I'm sure more will as this goes on. Fun times, buddy. Always. Always. All right. Get better soon, Jalen. We're all thinking about you. And at least on this, Bob, we adore you, man. So thank you for everything. All right. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, here's James.