Welcome to The Linc, the daily Philadelphia Eagles links roundup at Bleeding Green Nation!
As the great Zach Berman has said, people will speculate in the absence of information. And the Eagles might not enjoy that speculation. But if the Eagles have permission from Jalen Hurts to share more about the specifics of his situation, it sure seems like they should.
Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
It’s irritating when coaches do this, because they know very well the medical staff is not available to answer anything. As one Sirianni questioner pointed out, Sirianni is the team spokesman here. It would be reasonable to expect him to be briefed by the medical staff before going out to answer questions. In fact, this was an occasion on which we might have expected to hear from Howie Roseman or even Jeffrey Lurie. Instead we got Sirianni repeating himself, starting multiple answers with “again,” as if all of this was just so repetitive and tiresome for him, hours after we learned the extent of the problem. “We put out a detailed statement for you guys to hear and to understand,” Sirianni said. The only thing Sirianni really made clear is that it wasn’t his decision, to play Hurts or to fly him home. He might get fired this season because of losing, but from what we know right now, I wouldn’t expect this matter to directly lead to Sirianni’s departure. (It could certainly do so indirectly, by exacerbating the losing.) Someone, maybe multiple someones on the team’s medical staff surely will have to have to answer for this, though. […] But it’s bad enough to cast doubt on Hurts’ future here, and by extension, on Sirianni’s future. The organization hasn’t been at a crossroads like this since Carson Wentz demanded to be traded. Even then, though, the Eagles had Hurts. I don’t see Tanner McKee taking the team to any Super Bowls. Overall, this is a shocking failure from an organization that prides itself on its professional standards. It shakes the foundation of what we think we know about how the team operates.
Is there a trust issue between Jalen Hurts and the Eagles? – BGN
One thing is for certain, some close to Hurts were not happy with how the Eagles dealt with the blood clot situation. They also felt Hurts should have been treated far better by the team this offseason by offering another contract extension. The Eagles never budged. With the perception of how the Eagles dealt with Hurts’ situation, coupled with the looming contract extension, it may not help the relationship.
The Eagles Somehow Made the Jalen Hurts Situation Even Worse on Monday – SI
This is purely my opinion: I am not sure what the Eagles would have ultimately gained by sneaking Hurts onto the field knowing he was suffering through a dire medical condition and then parking the franchise quarterback on an airplane to let the condition worsen. Again, doing this knowingly would be one of the most significant medical controversies in NFL history and would require firing an entire medical staff. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted, demand a reexamination of everything when it comes to the way we treat players. Certainly, there have been high-profile stories of team medical professionals acting negligently, and I am not naive to the fact that a doctor can make a horrible mistake. However, this would represent a multiperson, department-wide breakdown for which I don’t have a reference point. But if this were the case, wouldn’t Hurts’s agent be publicly warring against the Eagles on behalf of her client instead of collaborating on a statement with them? There are so many details about the nuances of the treatment, what was known at the time in London, what kind of testing equipment was available to the Eagles in another country before the team made a decision to play Hurts, and what, ultimately, was passed along to the person or people deciding it was O.K. for Hurts to play. We cannot have this narrative both ways: The Eagles seemed to be preparing for a rebuild and, weeks ago, traded one of their best remaining offensive linemen after the Johnson retirement. They also needed to win a game in the absolute destitute swampland that is the NFC East so badly that they would put a quarterback in a life-threatening situation?
The Biggest Questions About Jalen Hurts’s Health, and Where the Eagles Go From Here – The Ringer
What does this mean for Hurts’s future with the Eagles? Hurts was likely going to be one of the main characters of the 2027 offseason even before this blood clot issue. He’s under contract through 2028, but the bulk of the guaranteed money from the deal he signed in 2023 has already been paid out, and the team could get out of his contract after next season for just a $54.5 million dead cap hit. It’s also possible that Hurts could have been a trade candidate next spring, if the Eagles were interested in moving on, or, if this season had gone well, they might have considered extending him early, before the QB market explodes. Lamar Jackson, C.J. Stroud, and Bryce Young will be among the passers looking for new deals next offseason, just as the quarterbacks from the 2024 draft class—including Caleb Williams and Drake Maye—become eligible for second contracts. The Eagles often try to be ahead of the market—that was the case in 2023 when they got Hurts’s last extension done before Jackson’s new deal with Baltimore. Now, though, it’s not simply a question of timing or cost to keep Hurts, but Philadelphia needing to decide if he’s even still their long-term quarterback. The Eagles are currently on their third offensive coordinator/play caller in the last three years; the most recent change, from Kevin Patullo to Sean Mannion, a Matt LaFleur protege, brought an entirely new scheme for Hurts, one with increased time under center and more frequent use of play-action. The early results haven’t been great—though the injuries, particularly Barkley’s, and personnel changes along the offensive line have made it difficult to give the system a true evaluation. Siranni signed a contract extension in 2025 within months of the Eagles’ most recent Super Bowl title, but it’s hard to imagine that his job is super secure as yet another season spirals away. Playing the rest of this year without Hurts just makes all of those offseason questions more difficult to answer.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts’ blood clot diagnosis explained – ESPN
Hurts was originally diagnosed with having a superficial blood clot, according to a team statement released on Oct. 15, which was discovered following an ultrasound in London before the Eagles’ Week 5 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was deemed that mobility was important and Hurts could safely play in the game, per the statement. A follow-up ultrasound last Wednesday showed the blood clot had moved, the team said. Hurts was subsequently ruled out of Sunday’s Week 6 game against the Carolina Panthers and has since been put on injured reserve. ESPN spoke with Dr. Jordan K. Schaefer, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan specializing in disorders of hemostasis and thrombosis, for a better understanding of causes, treatments, and outlook for those with blood clots. Dr. Schaefer has not treated Hurts and is not involved with the Eagles. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Jalen Hurts is out for the season. Where do the spiraling Eagles go from here? – The Athletic
The problem with this conversation? The worse the Eagles finish, the worse it is for Sirianni’s future with the organization. This might be a sensitive subject — and some might even call it unfair speculation — for a coach who has won a Super Bowl and has the best winning percentage among qualified active coaches. One losing season, with the franchise quarterback lost after Week 5, would seem like an acceptable mulligan. This is also where Lurie’s history is instructive. The focus has been on trajectory — not resume. After the 2020 season, Pederson was fired after his first post-Super Bowl losing season. Lurie said Pederson did not “deserve” to be dismissed, but the franchise made the move to set a new direction. If Pederson had returned in 2021, Lurie felt the coach would need to do everything possible to maximize that season. The Eagles knew they needed to build for beyond 2021. Lurie fired Chip Kelly in 2015 after his first losing season following two 10-win campaigns. The franchise’s direction was a concern. After the 2012 season, Lurie moved on from Andy Reid — the winningest coach in franchise history — when Reid needed a change of scenery and the Eagles needed a fresh voice.
Hurt Hurts Update – Iggles Blitz
If the Eagles stick with the young guys, that could be a sign they are embracing this as a lost season. If they add a veteran, that could signal they still want to try to win the division and make the playoffs. That may sound nuts in the middle of a 4-game losing streak, but the team could get a boost as some hurt players start returning from their injuries. Howie and Nick are the kind of guys who will want to compete as long as possible. A weird season seems to get weirder every week. If you’re an older fan this might remind you of 1993, 2005, 2012 or 2020. The Eagles expected to be really good in those years and then things went haywire. I might get PTSD if I start thinking too much about them. The biggest common denominator was injuries. That certainly is a huge issue for the current team.
NFL Week 6 Sunday aftermath: Texans surging after huge AFC South win; panic time for Rams? – NFL.com
The Eagles’ offense could be unsalvageable with Monday’s stunning news that Jalen Hurts will likely miss the rest of the season due to blood clots in his lungs. Tanner McKee looked like a preseason quarterback early on Sunday against Carolina. The NFL is played in millimeters; McKee missed by feet at times. He found a groove late by feeding DeVonta Smith, but if he regresses to who he was early in the tilt and struggles under pressure, the Eagles’ offense will continue to fly listless. In addition, the line issues offer little hope that the attack will turn things around this season. It will be interesting to see how Howie Roseman handles the next few weeks before the Nov. 10 trade deadline. Does the Eagles general manager make a move for a veteran replacement at QB? Does Philly ride with McKee even if the backup struggles? Does 2026 become a reboot season, where the franchise ultimately just hopes to get everything back on track in 2027? After parting with Cam Jurgens to compile picks, shelling out for a stopgap QB could run counter to the stockpile plan. On the other hand, Roseman has to look at the rest of the division and feel like he still has a shot at winning it if he can get competent QB play.
The goal of team doctors shouldn’t be to help players “be available” – PFT
Here’s what Sirianni said, when asked to identify the persons who were part of the conversations surrounding the medical decisions made after a blood clot was discovered in Hurts’s leg: “I think I’ll put it this way, the same doctors and trainers that helped 21 of our 22 starters be available in the Super Bowl are the same guys today that deeply care about our guys to help them.” (Emphasis added.) The doctors shouldn’t be there to help players “be available.” They should be there to provide medical care to players who, when they have a health issue, become patients. Without an unaffiliated doctor involved in the process, the objective easily can shift from taking the best care of the patient to best enhancing the ability of the player to play. That’s why the Hurts case should be the starting point for a comprehensive examination of the entire system of providing medical care to NFL players. With the player wanting to be able to play and the team wanting the player to be able to play, a doctor who is perceived as saying too often “this player shouldn’t be available to play” risks being replaced by a doctor who understands the unspoken (usually) goal of ensuring that as many players as possible will “be available” to play in every game.
Nick Sirianni: Eagles sticking with Sean Mannion as play-caller – NBCSP
After Sunday’s loss to the Panthers, head coach Nick Sirianni said “everything is on the table” to fix the Eagles’ stagnant offense. But he’s not changing play-callers. On Monday afternoon, Sirianni said he is sticking with first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion in that role. “Obviously, we are looking at everything,” Sirianni added a day after his team’s fourth consecutive loss. “Again, I think those are conversations that I’ve had with the staff this whole morning. Everything’s on the table. ‘Oh but we’ve done this.’ Well, maybe this isn’t working quite as good so this is on the table. Without getting too much into scheme-wise, I’m saying to you, obviously, it hasn’t looked the way we wanted it to look and we’re not scoring enough points. So everything is on the table. I’ll do everything we can do, our coaches will do everything we can do to help us win football game. If I said, ‘this is all on the table but this isn’t’ … everything’s on the table. But as far as who’s coaching the positions and who’s calling the plays, that will remain the same. We’re looking for answers and we’re looking for solutions.”
FOOTBALL COURT: Is Bryce Young is the NFL MVP so far? – SB Nation
This NFL season is completely off the rails in the best way possible. Nothing is predictable, all our assumptions have been torn asunder, and somehow we’re sitting at the end of Week 6 with there being very real, sensible discussions over whether Bryce Young is on pace to win the NFL MVP award. Young has become the league’s most-talked about quarterback (at least in a positive way). He’s absolutely balling out in year four, playing almost mistake-free football, with his only two interceptions being on final plays of the half or drive where they were chalked up as true desperation plays. Meanwhile he’s moving the ball vertically better than almost anyone in the league, and is on pace to finish with 5,267 yards, 37 TDs, and 7 INTs — all while cementing the Panthers as the best team in the NFC South, with everyone else lagging far behind.
CJ Gardner-Johnson suspended one game for spitting incident vs. Raiders – Buffalo Rumblings
To the surprise of no one, the NFL has levied a suspension on Buffalo Bills safety CJ Gardner-Johnson for spitting in the direction of Brock Bowers in the second quarter of the Week 6 game in Las Vegas.
Mike Evans and Kyle Juszczyk are active for the 49ers – Niners Nation
Wonder if the Eagles might look to bring one of their former blockers back to Philly. Brett Toth is a better option than Jake Majors.
The San Francisco 49ers released veteran offensive lineman Brett Toth from injured reserve as part of an injury settlement, per Matt Maiocco. That should tell us the team was not expecting Toth to return this season, while acknowledging they may play another player on the injured reserve.
Colts Working Out Two Receivers Including Ainias Smith – NFL Trade Rumors
Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports the Colts are hosting WRs Ainias Smith and Courtney Jackson for workouts on Monday. Smith, 25, declared for the draft after his fifth year at Texas A&M. He was drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round with the No. 152 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Darian Kinnard: Headed to Las Vegas – CBS Sports
Former Eagles OL lands in Sin City.
Kinnard (ankle) was signed to the Raiders’ practice squad Monday. Kinnard was released by the Packers in late August after suffering an ankle injury.
NY Giants ‘working through’ quarterback decision, won’t make one yet – Big Blue View
New York Giants coach John Harbaugh said on Monday afternoon that the Giants have not yet made a decision who their starting starting quarterback will be on Sunday against the Houston Texans. “We’re working through that now. Honing in on a decision,” Harbaugh said via Zoom. The Giants, of course, have a decision to make after J.J. McCarthy threw for 243 yards and led the Giants from a34-10 deficit to the brink of a stunning comeback on Sunday in a 34-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints. What will the decision be based on? “Absolutely like every other personnel decision we make what gives us the best chance to win the football game at this given time or what combination of players and schemes and things like that give us the best chance to, in this case, move the ball, score points, protect the football, etc.,” Harbaugh said. “The things that help us win. Whatever it is that furthers us and helps us. That’s what we want to do.”
Stock Down: Brian Schottenheimer — What is unique about this moment is that the Cowboys had the mini-bye to prepare for this game. Obviously the goal was to win, but if they had shown fight then at least you could make an argument that they were prepared and simply fell short. That was not the case. This team looks flat and like it lacks leadership, so the leadership is in serious question. […] Stock Down: Dak Prescott — This was certainly one of the worst games of Dak Prescott’s career. What happened to the version of Dak that excelled against the blitz? Maybe defenses have figured out a way to neutralize what he took advantage of, but right now it has seriously become the quarterback’s kryptonite. A lot went wrong. But the franchise quarterback being a part of that is never a good thing.
NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 7 edition – PhillyVoice
10) Cowboys (2-4): The Cowboys lost 23-13 in Green Bay, but it wasn’t really even that close. Packers receivers dropped a bunch of touchdowns, and Dak Prescott laughably had an INT wiped off his stat sheet because of this extraordinarily soft roughing the passer flag. With the Eagles going through a “season from hell,” the division is right there for the Cowboys to take, and they’re basically like, “Nah.
Key takeaways from Washington Commanders loss to San Francisco 49ers – Hogs Haven
Proving that they were better and had rebounded well was a tough task, however, considering they had to fly across the country to play the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. The 49ers were more talented at most every spot, even with San Francisco beset by with injuries. Leaving with a win was always considered tough – it would’ve been huge considering the dismal state of the NFC East – but remaining competitive seemed necessary. Despite an awful first half, the Commanders certainly were. And wouldn’t ya know it, this game also came down to a last-second scenario, with the Commanders pushing to win the game with no timeouts and less than a minute left. Could the Commanders handle this late-game scenario? The game management wasn’t the issue here, but the result wasn’t any better. The game was in the balance, with the Commanders pushing hard for a score with less that an minute left. In the decisive play, Daniels was called for an intentional grounding call that generated a loss of down and a 10 second runoff, setting up a presumptive last-second chuck into the end zone.
Season of a lifetime begins as Sixers face defending champion Knicks– Liberty Ballers
We have arrived. The beginning of the most highly anticipated Sixers season of our lifetimes is upon us. A starting five of stars past, present, and future has been assembled to take Philadelphia to the promised land known as “beyond the second round of the playoffs”. It all still feels a bit surreal. The Jaylen Brown trade came out of nowhere, after we had all but resigned ourselves to a purgatory riding out the contracts of Paul George and Joel Embiid. Now every conversation about the team seems like a harpist is playing while a personal chef prepares our dinner. The possibility of LeBron James signing with the Sixers was certainly discussed. But surely he would return to a past home in Cleveland or Miami. It was nice just to be thrown into the mix. Now the always a bridesmaid is being rushed to the altar in a helicopter from New York.
…
Social Media Information:
BGN Facebook Page: Click here to like our page
BGN Twitter: Follow @BleedingGreen
BGN BlueSky: Follow @bleedgreennation.bsky.social
BGN Instagram: Follow @BleedingGreenInsta
BGN Manager: Follow Brandon Lee Gowton on Twitter | BlueSky | Threads
BGN Radio Twitter: Follow @BGN_Radio
The Feed post of the day
Each day, we highlight a BGN community post here in this space. Head over to The Feed to submit your entry and have a chance to be featured in The Linc!
ALSO: here’s a bonus post from the NFC East Mixtape feed!