Jalen Hurts is likely to miss the rest of the season after an ultrasound revealed blood clots in his lungs.
asserted
ultrasound → miss → lungs
Thankfully, he’s now restricted from playing for the immediate future, meaning he won’t be risking serious complications – or even his life – as he did when he played in their Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
asserted
he → restrict → London
Hurts complained to the Eagles medical staff of calf pain on 8 October, according to ESPN.
uncertain
Hurts → complain → ESPN
The Eagles say that Hurts flew to London with the rest of the team and, out of an “abundance of caution,” was given an ultrasound.
asserted
Hurts → say → ultrasound
The test found a superficial clot in his calf.
asserted
test → find → calf
Doing the ultrasound before the flight would’ve been the most prudent thing.
asserted
Doing → do → flight
The same for making him inactive after the clot was found.
asserted
clot → make → ?
But instead, he played in the game on 11 October, as the medical staff and doctors in London agreed “that activity and mobility were important.”
asserted
activity → play → London
Hurts also practiced all last week before a follow-up ultrasound also found clots in his lungs.
asserted
ultrasound → practice → lungs
Some have celebrated Hurts’s performance against the Jaguars as a feat of virility; to many it looks more like putting a player in real danger.
asserted
it → celebrate → danger
His blood clots could have caused serious health issues during the flights or game (one sports medicine doctor told NJ.com that Hurts was “a walking risk”).
uncertain
Hurts → cause → NJ.com
If his condition was dire enough that doctors reportedly told him in the early hours of Sunday morning not to sleep before the Jaguars game, he shouldn’t have been playing.
uncertain
he → tell → game
Hurts’s agent, Nicole Lynn, clarified that he did get some sleep before facing the Jaguars, but the question remains: Was the NFL’s London showcase so important that it was worth risking Hurts’s life?
asserted
it → clarify → life
Asked about his decision to play Hurts, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni told reporters that he relies on advice from medical staff.
asserted
he → ask → staff
“I’m a football coach.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
I lean on our medical experts in every situation,” he said.
asserted
he → lean → situation
“I have full trust and full faith in them.
asserted
I → have → them
It’s not just me that has major care for our players.
asserted
that → ’ → players
It’s them as well.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The Super Bowl LIX MVP is on blood thinners and hopefully on the road to healing, and is expected to make a full recovery.
asserted
MVP → heal → recovery
But his ordeal is the latest example of how football players are put in danger season after season.
asserted
players → put → season
One piece of research from 2017 found that a college player took hits to his head during a single game that were equivalent to multiple car crashes.
asserted
that → find → crashes
A study published this year found that 215 of 235 brains of former NFL players donated for research showed signs of CTE, a degenerative brain disease that can only be diagnosed after death.
asserted
that → publish → death
The NFL has said that it “continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts” but players keep on suffering concussions, and others like Hurts find themselves in a football culture where playing through injury is commonplace.
asserted
playing → say → injury
Last Wednesday, Hurts told reporters that his last week had been a “very unique experience” but declined to reveal the blood clot.
asserted
week → tell → clot
No one has reported that he received any undue pressure from the Eagles or the league to play against the Jaguars.
asserted
he → report → Jaguars
In 2018, former Eagles tackle Lane Johnson was reportedly “berated” by general manager Howie Roseman for saying he was unsure about playing because of a high ankle sprain.
uncertain
he → berate → sprain
After suiting up, Roseman reportedly told him, “Good, you have your mouthpiece in, now you can’t say anything stupid.”
uncertain
you → suit → anything
Neither man has commented on the matter, but it appears to offer a glimpse of life in the good ol’ NFL, where admitting you’re impaired is stupidity.
asserted
you → comment → NFL
Johnson aggravated the ankle injury and suffered a knee injury during the game.
asserted
Johnson → aggravate → game
Football culture demands that players “tough it out” and get on the field.
asserted
players → demand → field
As former NFL receiver Bernard Berrian has said, the tension “isn’t verbal” but is still “there” because, “as we say, you can’t make the team in the training room.”
asserted
you → say → room
Former running back Clinton Portis echoed Berrian when he spoke about playing through 10 concussions in his career and rarely getting treatment: “You can’t make the club in the tub.”
asserted
You → echo → tub
Portis said he was “really scared” of undergoing testing to assess his neurological health.
asserted
he → say → health
You can see how the culture of the NFL makes players behave this way.
asserted
players → see → NFL
With only 61% of NFL contracts containing guarantees, and an average 56% year-to-year retention, the pressure to stay active and keep the checks coming in is rampant.
asserted
pressure → contain → checks
Pretty much every job pressures its employees to perform in some capacity; only one entails 300-pound men running full speed to tackle you for 17 games a year.
asserted
men → pressure → games
Players shouldn’t be made to feel like they need to be on the field, but the irrational “win now” pressure that they face trickles down and paints them in two colors: an asset or expendable.
asserted
they → make → colors
It’s inherently inhumane.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The NFL has attempted to address injuries, and the threat of concussion and CTE in particular, but those efforts don’t seem to be enough.
asserted
efforts → attempt → concussion
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
