When Jalen Hurts injured his throwing shoulder during a week 15 victory over the Chicago Bears, the hope was that he would have the final three weeks of the season, plus a bye in the wild card round of the playoffs, to rest up and fully heal.
Unfortunately, the Eagles lost in weeks 16 and 17, setting up a must-win game in week 18 against the New York Giants in order to secure top spot in the NFC. And while Philly would get the win and clinch first-place, it appears to have come at a cost.
You see, Hurts was forced to come back a little earlier than the Eagles had hoped, as they didn’t want to take another chance with Gardner Minshew under center in week 18. And according to the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Eagles’ star quarterback emerged from last week’s game “sore.”
Now, the belief is that Hurts won’t be 100 percent when he takes the field for the team’s divisional round game next week.
Hurts himself admitted it’s a good thing his team has a bye this week, although it wasn’t all bad news with regards to the MVP candidate’s shoulder.
Garafolo went on to say that Hurts practiced on Friday, and if the Eagles had to release an injury report, he would have been listed as a full participant. He also pointed out that the Eagles used a conservative game plan for Hurts in week 18 and limited the number of times he ran the ball.
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The expectation as of now is that Hurts will be full-go for the divisional round… just not at 100 percent. We’ll find out exactly what that means for the Eagles offense and their quarterback next weekend.
