The lack of complete information about the events that led to Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts traveling to London with a blood clot in his leg, playing with a blood clot in his leg and quickly traveling back to Philadelphia with a blood clot in his leg has resulted in many reports intended to fill in the gaps. The craziest report emerged on Monday, when both Netflix’s Tom Pelissero and ESPNFL’s Ian Rapoport reported that doctors had advised Hurts not to sleep as a precaution. That led Pelissero to claim that Hurts went without sleep for approximately 36 hours. A few hours later, Pelissero (who was criticized for framing Hurts’ willingness to play without sleep) took a mop and bucket to Twitter and had this to say: “Just spoke with Jalen Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, who clarified that while Hurts was up until early Sunday morning being evaluated at a hospital, he was able to sleep upon returning to the team and the Eagles booked him a room at the stadium. Videos from the stadium show Hurts entering the field just before tip-off and felt rested enough to play. He was able to sleep until the team left for the stadium at 10:30 a.m. Upon arrival, Hurts took a nap until he took the field for pregame warmups.” Then, over the course of the same day, reports went from doctors telling Hurts not to get any sleep to Hurts ultimately sleeping up to 7.5 hours at the hotel AND taking a nap at the stadium. None of this makes sense, largely because the Eagles have yet to make anyone available to answer questions the media and public have. Although the team’s statement on Monday mentioned “transparency,” the level of transparency has been selective and incomplete. Only coach Nick Sirianni has spoken to reporters, and his role was necessarily limited. If Hurts has no qualms about issuing statements detailing his health situation, he surely wouldn’t object to the doctors who treated him talking about what happened, when it happened, how it happened, why it happened. But it seems like both the Eagles and the NFL are waiting for time to run out until the next shiny object catches the attention of our collective goldfish brain. the whole story. It would be better if it came directly from the people who were involved in a chain of decisions that seems strange at best and unsafe at worst. Still, that’s how it goes with the NFL and its teams. They want public attention on their terms. And they will do everything they can to keep uncomfortable truths hidden from outside scrutiny for as long as possible. As for reporters who have apparently retracted reports that Hurts was advised not to sleep without officially recanting, there’s a story to tell about why and how that happened. The most sensible explanation is that someone on the Eagles cajoled them into doing it, and that they realized (or were reminded) that the Eagles are one of the teams that butter themselves when it comes to reporting transactions five minutes before moves are announced.
