Eagles Clips
Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III dealt with blood clots in his lungs in high school. He thought his football career would be over, before it even got started.
During his Friday press conference, he was asked about Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is currently dealing with blood clots in his lungs.
“Yeah, honestly, just stay positive,” Walker said. “You know, obviously, I guess you know about what happened in high school, like, with the blood clots and everything. And he went on the flight, huh, and everything? Yeah, that’s crazy.
“You know, honestly, just stay positive, and, you know, do all the things necessary that he need to do, like, to get his body back right. But, yeah, I’ll be praying for him, because that’s not something, you know, we should take lightly.”
Walker’s reaction to the fact that Hurts flew to London and back again isn’t uncommon. And with neither the Eagles nor the league providing any real clarity on how that came to be, everyone will have to wait for the results of the investigation requested by the NFL Players Association.
If, of course, the results of that investigation are shared with the public.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (hamstring) remained a limited practice participant on Friday.
He is hoping to return for Monday night’s game against the Cowboys.
The Eagles had five changes to their injury report, including downgrading outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle) to out of practice. Greenard was limited on Thursday.
The Eagles added offensive tackle Fred Johnson (illness) as a limited participant.
Offensive lineman Drew Kendall (knee) and linebacker AJ Epenesa (back) were full participants Friday after limited work on Thursday, and offensive lineman Willie Lampkin (illness) had limited participation after missing Thursday’s session.
Defensive back Michael Carter (abdomen), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), wide receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring), linebacker Nolan Smith (concussion), and wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) were out of practice again.
Guard Landon Dickerson (knee, pectoral), linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle), linebacker Jalyx Hunt (knee, ankle), defensive tackle Moro Ojomo (abdomen) and guard Tyler Steen (shoulder) joined Barkley as limited participants.
The Cowboys upgraded three players from limited to full participants in practice on Friday.
Wide receiver George Pickens (shoulder), cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring), and left tackle Tyler Guyton (calf) were able to do everything in practice. That should put them all on track to play against the Eagles on Monday night and the team will issue their final injury report for that game on Saturday.
Offensive tackle Broderick Jones (wrist) and safety P.J. Locke (foot) were the only players limited in Friday’s practice. Offensive tackle Drew Shelton (hamstring), wide receiver KaVontae Turpin (ribs), and linebacker Dee Winters (calf) remained out of practice.
Safety Alijah Clark (hamstring), linebacker Marist Liufau (forearm), linebacker Von Miller (rest), linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring), cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (ankle), and cornerback Ameer Speed (knee) were all full participants.
Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown expects more of himself, but he is trying to be patient and not frustrated.
The Patriots played two games in four days in Brown’s return from a right high ankle sprain, and he made only six catches on 16 targets for 75 yards. He dropped four passes, including three in Sunday’s win over the Jets.
“I’m a vet. I understand how the game goes,” Brown said, via Eric Edholm of yahoo!sports. “It’s just how the game is. I know what type of player I am, and I know that that’s always the case, every time I line up I get a lot of attention. Teams try to take me away and it gives a lot of opportunities to other guys to make plays and soften that up for me. And then whenever I get my shots, I have to make them.”
The Patriots traded a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder for Brown, who requested the trade from the Eagles. He was frustrated with the offense and quarterback Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia last season.
Now, he’s with Drake Maye and is trying to find his way back to being a No. 1 wide receiver.
He was asked after Thursday night’s loss to the Bears whether he needed an adjustment period with a new team.
“I guess you could say that,” Brown said. “But there’s no time for that. . . . I just gotta try to put my best foot forward and try to make plays and keep going.”
Given the recent talk about the medical care provided to NFL players (I’ll now wonder whether any “calf” injury is actually a blood clot), more attention will be paid to whether the practices match the principles that were stridently articulated earlier this week by chief medical officer Allen Sills.
“The notion that there’s external factors that any of our physicians would put a player in harm’s way -- that’s nonsense,” Sills said, among other things, in defending the handling of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in London nearly two weeks ago.
The realities of professional football introduce plenty of external factors that make the situation necessarily and inherently different than the usual patient-care scenario.
Last night, for example, Bears running back D’Andre Swift took a helmet to the knee while being tackled during the first quarter against the Patriots. Swift immediately was in pain. He got up and limped off the field.
Not long after that, Prime Video cameras provided a closeup view of Swift’s knee. The impact had ripped a large hole in his pants, and blood was plainly visible on his skin. While he wasn’t bleeding profusely, Swift was definitely bleeding.
Prime Video sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung explained that Swift had received no medical attention on the sideline.
That’s unusual, to say the least. Cuts are addressed, in order to stop and/or conceal the bleeding. The player’s blood becomes a potential biohazard for others. The exposed wound puts the player at risk of external contamination.
In this specific case, the doctors on the sideline provided no treatment to Swift. While it’s possible he refused it, the disposition of the player-patient is one of the obvious “external factors” that can compromise care. The patient, in that setting, can at times be uncooperative.
Sills opened the door to this kind of scrutiny, through his insistence that no football factors (such as the player wanting to play, the team wanting him to be available, and the team and the league hoping to justify the decision not to revise the injury report, which included no suggestion that Hurts possibly wouldn’t play) never influence any medical decisions.
We all know that the context makes the medical care given to NFL players different. The still-unanswered questions regarding the treatment and advice given to Hurts flows from the basic recognition that a doctor who is disconnected from the shared urgency to play should have final say over whether the player will be permitted to take the field with a potentially serious health condition.
Those questions shouldn’t be shouted down or ignored. Swift’s case is a reminder of the dynamic that can lead to certain situations where the overriding goal that players will “be available” to play needs to be overridden by a doctor who cares only about the patient and nothing else.
On Wednesday, a report emerged regarding significant fines imposed on three head coaches for their interactions with officials. The news that the league dinged Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, Jets coach Aaron Glenn, and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni for $250,000 each lacked details about the behavior that caused it and the specific conditions that would keep the penalties, which reportedly are being held in abeyance, from being enforced.
Two of the coaches spoke to reporters on Thursday. Not much light was shed on the situation in either case.
“I won’t get into my conversations with the league,” Sirianni said when asked whether the fine was for a specific incident or something more general. “I try to keep everything player related, as far as my conversations with players, in-house. Not try, I do. Same with conversations with the league, same with conversations with the referees association. I’ll just keep that at that.”
He was then asked whether his approach to officials has changed in his tenure as a head coach.
“You are in constant growth,” Sirianni said. “I truly believe that I’ve been in constant growth there in maturity in every phase. You’re trying to get better as a coach on a daily basis. I’m always trying to get better as a human being, as a Christian, as a father, as a husband, as a son on a daily basis. I know that things don’t happen overnight, and there are times where you ‘relapse,’ to say, and you have a moment that you want back. But I can truly see growth, and that happens because, again, my faith. That happens, again, because of the people I have around me. I want to continue to grow as a person and as a coach, but that doesn’t mean we’re perfect. We all fall and it’s about how you get back up.”
That still leaves us with nothing regarding what they said or did to trigger the fines. Which creates the impression that it was more of a warning shot by the league aimed at getting all coaches to go easier on the officials. The fact that Sirianni expressly referenced the NFL Referees Association lends credence to the idea that it’s part of a broader effort to elevate the discourse.
Vrabel wasn’t specifically asked about the fine after Thursday night’s 30-24 loss to the Bears. In response to the last question of the press conference, he was asked about one of the calls made during the game.
“I’m not in very good favor with the officiating department,” Vrabel said, “so I probably shouldn’t say anything.”
He walked off after that, leaving no opportunity for a follow-up.
Regardless, the issue cries out for more details. Why were they fined? What did they do? What is the standard of behavior for getting the fines rescinded?
Vrabel is next scheduled to talk to reporters on Monday. Perhaps at that point, we’ll get some answers. Ditto for Glenn, who’ll speak after Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.
For now, the only lesson to other coaches is very broad: “Tread lightly.” And maybe that was the entire goal of the imposition of the fines.
Word on Thursday morning was that Eagles running back Saquon Barkley would return to practice and the team’s first injury report ahead of their Monday night game against the Cowboys confirms that he was back on the field.
Barkley was listed as a limited participant after missing the last couple of weeks with an ankle injury. Barkley is reportedly on track to play against Dallas, but he stopped short of making any guarantees.
“I would love to play Monday night. I would be doing myself a disservice to sit here and say Monday night I’m guaranteeing myself to play. I do know I have all trust in the trainers,” Barkley said, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “To be honest, I was trying to go last week. It sounded great in my head and then you sit and you’re like, maybe they were right. But I’m happy to have the opportunity to go out there and test it and God willing continue to trend in the right direction throughout the week and to be able to go and play Monday night.”
Defensive back Michael Carter (abdomen), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), guard Willie Lampkin (illness), wide receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring), linebacker Nolan Smith (concussion), and wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) were out of practice for the Eagles.
Guard Landon Dickerson (knee, pectoral), linebacker AJ Epenesa (back), linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle), linebacker Jalyx Hunt (knee, ankle), center Drew Kendall (knee), defensive tackle Moro Ojomo (abdomen), and guard Tyler Steen (shoulder) joined Barkley as limited participants.
Linebacker Zack Baun (shoulder), cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee), wide receiver Marquise Brown (ankle), tight end Grant Calcaterra (back), linebacker Jihaad Campbell (wrist), defensive tackle Jalen Carter (wrist), wide receiver Britain Covey (shoulder), defensive tackle Jordan Davis (shin, thumb), linebacker Arnold Ebiketie (shoulder), and tight end Eli Stowers (quad) were all listed as full participants.
The Eagles continue to make coach Nick Sirianni available for regular press conferences. He continues to say as little as possible about the Jalen Hurts situation.
On Thursday, Sirianni was asked whether he agrees with the NFL Players Association seeking a full investigation of the handling of the situation.
“Guys, I’m not going to go into any of that,” Sirianni said. “I respect your question. Obviously, I understand that everybody has questions about this, and I care deeply about Jalen and I want -- his wellbeing is first and foremost, but really, I’m here to talk about the Cowboys and our team in this week of practice.”
Hey, at least the reporters tried. That said, they had an opportunity o Wednesday to get some answers from offensive coordinator Sean Mannion on collateral questions relating to the Hurts situation, but didn’t.
Mannion was asked a couple of Hurts questions regarding his role in assisting Tanner McKee.
“He’s been around, and I know -- Just speaking on the Jalen thing, obviously, just want him to get healthy and just care for the guy and the work that he puts into our team each and every week,” Mannion said. “Certainly, want him to continue to be around and be a positive impact for us while he’s getting himself healthy. That’s the ultimate priority. He was around last week, and I know he’s tackling the health stuff he’s got going on, but he’ll still be a big positive impact anytime he’s around the team.”
Although the Eagles are committed to citing patient privacy when asked about Hurts’s condition (despite the fact that his entire diagnosis has been disclosed via multiple statements), there were areas on which Mannion may have helped shed useful light.
When did you find out Jalen had been taken to the hospital?
Did players ask you about Jalen’s trip to the hospital?
After Jalen went to the hospital, did you believe there was a chance Jalen wouldn’t play the game in London?
Did you at any point begin getting Tanner McKee ready to play?
When did you know Jalen would definitely play?
For how long did you not know whether Jalen would be available?
While unrelated to the diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis, specific questions about Mannion’s knowledge, impressions, and actions relating to the preparation of McKee would shed light on the failure of the team to downgrade Hurts to “questionable” for the game. Because, certainly, there was a point at which his availability to play was in question.
Mannion also could have been asked when Hurts first complained about issues with his calf, and whether he noticed any limitations to his mobility during practice. Mannion also could have been asked whether the decision to not use the tush push play on fourth and 1 from the Jacksonville 37 was influenced by Hurts’s condition.
The broader question for the organization, as noted by Chris Simms on Thursday’s PFT Live, is the failure of the team to make G.M. Howie Roseman available at any point over the past week to address the situation. He runs the show. He surely is the one person in the best position to answer any and all questions about how it was handled.
Apart from whether the situation was handled properly from a medical and football standpoint, the Eagles have done a poor job of providing meaningful answers to obvious questions. While those questions will be unavoidable in the coming investigation under the CBA, the Eagles apparently have successfully run out the clock as it relates to media inquiries.
Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens popped up on the injury report for the first time this season.
Pickens had a limited practice Thursday with a shoulder injury.
Cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring), left tackle Tyler Guyton (calf) and outside linebacker Marist Liufau (forearm) were also limited.
The Cowboys practiced without outside linebacker Von Miller (rest), offensive tackle Drew Shelton (hamstring), wide receiver KaVontae Turpin (ribs) and linebacker Dee Winters (calf).
Safety Alijah Clark (hamstring), linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring) and cornerback Ameer Speed (knee) were full participants.
UPDATE 5:57 P.M. ET: The Cowboys announced that they inadvertently left cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (ankle, full) off their injury report.
The Eagles have signed offensive lineman Evan Neal, according to multiple reports. He presumably will join the practice squad.
Neal practiced with the team Thursday.
The Raiders cut Neal from their practice squad earlier in the week.
The Giants released Neal out of the preseason, and the Raiders signed him soon after.
Neal was not active for any games with the Raiders, and he has not played in a game since 2024.
The Giants selected him seventh overall in the 2022 draft, and he began his career at right tackle. The Giants moved him to right guard, and he did not play a snap there last season.
He ended his Giants career with 29 games played, including 27 starts.
