Former NFL star and current NFL Network analyst Michael Robinson sparked controversy with his take suggesting Jalen Hurts might be using his injury situation to avoid taking blame for the Philadelphia Eagles' struggles.
During a recent "NFL Gameday," Robinson shared his thoughts on the news, suggesting the Eagles are trying to "pin" their struggles this season on Hurts, giving the team a reason to "move on" from him. Robinson then played "devil's advocate," bringing up Hurts' superficial blood clot situation.
"And again, I'm not saying I know nothing, guys. But if I'm just playing devil's advocate here and I'm thinking that way, if I'm Jalen Hurts or anybody in Jalen Hurts' camp, I'm saying, 'Well, if everybody's hurt, I'm hurt too,'" Robinson said.
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"And I'm not saying, you know, a superficial blood clot isn't serious. I'm not saying that. But I would advise to all our viewers to go Google superficial blood clot as opposed to a real blood clot. And again, I'm not a medical guy. But I'm just saying, to me, to me, it looked like Jalen is kind of getting himself out of the fray, which you just said it... this is a lost season," the former San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks fullback said.
Robinson's take quickly circulated on social media, with various X accounts, including the Eagle Times, sharing a clip.
It drew strong backlash against Robinson for even suggesting Hurts was using the injury to distance himself from the team's struggles this season.
"yea because he decided to give himself a blood clot that could potentially turn life threatening just so he doesn’t get the blame. [expletive] outta here," one commenter replied.
"That’s [expletive]. Jalen is one of the biggest competitors in the league," another commenter said.
"So [expletive] disrespectful. What did Jalen do to these people for them to hate him so much??" someone wrote.
"he coulda just stopped after stating “again i’m not a medical guy” lmao," a commenter suggested.
"These be the goofy [expletive] mfs yall pay to cover sports. He should lose his job for this bull [expletive]," a commenter wrote.
On Thursday, ESPN reported that the Eagles had ruled Hurts out of Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers with a superficial blood clot. The Eagles released a lengthy team statement regarding what led to the discovery earlier this month and why Hurts still played in the Eagles' loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Although Michael Robinson started his comments on NFL Network by saying he was playing "devil's advocate," most would probably disagree with his take about Hurts. According to the team's statement, it was a medical team discovery based on an ultrasound taken after Hurts was "cleated" this month during the Eagles' game against the Los Angeles Rams.
As Hurts continues to receive treatment for the medical issue, the team said in their statement that Hurts' "health and safety are our highest priority."
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