The Philadelphia Eagles will finish the season without their franchise quarterback. The team announced on Monday that Jalen Hurts will miss the remainder of the campaign after further testing revealed blood clots in both of his lungs, a development the Eagles disclosed in a joint statement with Hurts' agent, Nicole Lynn. Treatment will consist of blood thinners, which rule out contact football until he is off the medication. The Jalen Hurts blood clots diagnosis closes the book on a season that opened with Philadelphia expecting to contend, and it hands the offense to backup Tanner McKee for the stretch run.

The Jalen Hurts blood clots timeline escalated quickly over the past week. Specialists in London first found a superficial clot in Hurts' left calf after the Eagles' narrow loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and a follow-up ultrasound days later showed the clot had shifted. Deeper testing followed, and according to the team's statement, it revealed a deep vein thrombosis along with bilateral pulmonary emboli, meaning clots are blocking arteries in both lungs. What began as a leg issue discovered during an international trip had become a season-ending medical situation within days.

The hospital stay nobody saw coming

Reporting from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport added a startling detail to the timeline: on the night before the London game, Hurts was in a hospital until the early morning hours and was advised not to sleep, then played the entire game anyway. Hurts himself later described the experience, as reported by the Delaware News Journal, as a very unique one. The Eagles placed their quarterback on injured reserve before Sunday's game, and McKee started in his place as Philadelphia fell at home to the Carolina Panthers for another defeat in a row, a result that dropped the club to two wins against four losses and deepened an already difficult season.

Why blood thinners end a football season

A bilateral pulmonary embolism occurs when a clot travels from a deep vein, often in the leg, and lodges in arteries in both lungs, cutting off normal blood flow. The standard treatment is anticoagulation medication. Rapoport reported that the Jalen Hurts blood clots treatment course is expected to last at least three months, and because the medication makes any significant blow to the body dangerous, contact sports are off the table for the full duration. The Eagles' statement said Hurts is clinically stable with no significant functional limitations, that his prognosis is very good, and that the team expects a full recovery with no long-term effects, adding that he will remain around the team and continue conditioning while he heals.

What Philadelphia loses on the field

The timing stings because of what Hurts represents to this franchise. He earned Super Bowl MVP honors in February after leading Philadelphia past the Kansas City Chiefs, and he has been a Pro Bowl selection multiple times since taking over as the starter late in his rookie season, compiling a 59-28 regular-season record along the way. For his career, he has thrown for 18,824 yards with 118 touchdowns against 48 interceptions, while adding 3,661 rushing yards and 64 rushing scores on the ground. Now the Jalen Hurts blood clots absence leaves Philadelphia reshaping an offense that was built around his dual-threat game.

A season that slipped away early

This year had already been uneven before the health scare. Hurts completed 57.8 percent of his passes for 933 yards with eight touchdowns and a trio of interceptions across five starts, while Philadelphia stumbled to a losing record and cycled through offensive answers that never quite arrived. Head coach Nick Sirianni was scheduled to address reporters later on Monday, and the questions will now center on McKee's readiness and whether the front office considers outside help at the position. For now, though, the organization's stated priority is the simplest one: getting its quarterback healthy. The Jalen Hurts blood clots story is first and foremost a medical one, and football can wait.

Sources: Reuters and ESPN reported the Jalen Hurts blood clots diagnosis and the Eagles' statement on Monday.