Word came out this morning that the previous superficial blood clots that Jalen Hurts was dealing with has moved to his lungs and he will be out for the year. This is some scary shit. I hate to do this, but I am about to make the situation much scarier.
Hurts was listed as questionable before the London game against the Jaguars with a calf injury. Ian Rappaport reported that Hurts was in the hospital all night before the London game against the Jaguars. He didn’t sleep and played anyway. Soon after he was diagnosed with a Superficial Vein Thrombosis. They let him fly home. He was put on blood thinners soon after and was put on IR likely missing 6-7 weeks if everything went well. Everything has not gone well.
This morning it came out that the clots had migrated to his lungs. Both of them. The official diagnosis according to his agent is a deep vein thrombosis along with a bilateral pulmonary emboli. Things have clearly advanced in a short time for whatever reason. This is now incredibly serious.
Nicole Lynn says in her statement that his prognosis is very good and the doctors expect a full recovery and he can resume football activity once he is off blood thinners. I’m sorry, but that is just being optimistic. The other side of that diagnosis is that he may have to be on blood thinners the rest of his life. If that is the case, his career is over at 28 years old. Goddamnit.
Of course, the agent is not going to give a fear mongering press release when she doesn’t have to, but his life is very much at stake now. Do you remember what happened to Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat? He had a blood clot in one of his lungs. After initially being ruled out for a couple weeks, he was shut down for the season back in 2016. He never played again. You cannot play professional sports on blood thinners.
What Happens?
I’m sorry I have to do this. My spectrum brain is not going to let me not address what happens with his contract. I mean no disrespect to Jalen Hurts at all with this. This is what happens if his career is over.
$22m of his 2027 salary is already guaranteed. That money is his. A $50m bonus (not extra, the $22m is part of that) must be exercised before Week 1 of 2027. If he isn’t cleared by then, they aren’t going to exercise that option. Because they do not exercise the option, that $22m becomes salary for 2027.
He would be a Post-June 1 cut. That means his cap hits would be stretched over 2 seasons:
2027: $52.7m
2028: $54.2m
Hurts could obviously modify his contract if he is not cleared to play and want to offer some cap relief to the team. This would involved turning that $22m into a bonus for 2027 and him being on IR all season. The team would pay $36m in 2027, $30m in 2028, and then $36.2m in 2029.
Please don’t take the looking at the numbers as not caring about Jalen Hurts. He’s my guy. His health is more important than any of this.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Charles Casner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped and AI modified)
Contracts via OvertheCap and Spotrac but calculations are my own
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