NFL Network’s Michael Robinson had to issue an apology statement towards Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles after reckless comments on-air.
Hurts will miss the rest of the 2026 NFL season with issues that started as a superficial blood clot in his legs to serious clots in his lungs, forcing him to miss the season to ensure a healthy recovery in time for the 2027 NFL season.
With the circumstances around Hurts’ injury being up for debate, as he played through the superficial diagnosis in London on very little rest due to a 36-hour monitoring window, Robinson’s reckless comments on NFL Network drew a lot of attention.
NFL Network analyst apologises to Jalen Hurts and the Eagles
Robinson issued an apology on social media, regretting his decision to jokingly speculate over the nature of Hurts’ injury and absence, implying that Hurts forcefully had himself ruled out for the season because of the Eagles’ 2-4 record.
“I want to sincerely apologise to Jalen Hurts, his family, the Philadelphia Eagles organisation and fan base for my comments last Thursday. They were unfounded, and I never should have speculated on a health issue of a player, nor his commitment to his team.”
This is the second time in a month that an NFL analyst has tried attacking an Eagles player for their absences because of the team’s record.
Stephen A. Smith minimised Lane Johnson’s mental health struggles when he retired a few weeks ago, and now Johnson did the same with Hurts’ life-threatening diagnosis.
The sincerity behind the apology is being questioned by fans and experts, including Terrell Owens, who demanded via Instagram comments that Robinson apologise live on-air, in the same way he attacked Hurts.
What did Michael Robinson say about Jalen Hurts?
Robinson openly theorised on the NFL Network that Hurts pulled himself from availability because of the injury crisis the Eagles are going through, while also saying that this was an attempt to stop the Eagles from scapegoating him as the reason for a losing season.
“if I’m Jalen Hurts − or anybody in Jalen Hurts’ camp − I’m saying, ‘Well, if everybody’s hurt, I’m hurt, too…’ To me, it looked like Jalen is kind of getting himself out of the fray so that this lost season… He’s pulling himself out so that this doesn’t look like it’s on me.”
The implication from either side of the coin is terrible.
Implying that a Super Bowl Champion QB would fake the severity of a life-threatening issue just to sit out the remainder of the season when he has previously played through multiple injuries to deliver winning football to Philadelphia is disrespectful.
In addition, implying that the Eagles wanted to endanger Hurts and keep him on the field to scapegoat him and trade him away was completely baseless and irresponsible.
The apology has been made but the impact might be a little too much to brush off with a flat apology.
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