Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been dealing with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand. Will he play in the NFC Wild Card matchup against the Buccaneers on Monday night?
Jalen Hurts Injury Update
Update 01/15/24: Jalen Hurts is officially active and will play against the Buccaneers.
In Week 18, Hurts and the Eagles lost their fifth game out of six against the division-rival New York Giants. While the team lost their division crown and were dropped to the fifth seed, Hurts was injured in the game, leaving some doubts about his availability ahead of their playoff matchup.
Despite the injury, Hurts went back into the game, and it is something he regrets doing.
“Everything is a challenge when you have a finger out of place,” he said.
Head coach Nick Sirianni said that the Hurts “had a good practice” on Friday. He was a limited participant during Thursday’s practice after injuring his right finger against the New York Giants in the regular-season finale. Hurts was a full participant on Saturday and is good to go for Monday night.
“He’s fighting through the finger injury, but he had a good practice yesterday, so excited for him and this opportunity. Really excited,” Sirianni said. “The energy and the juice in this building today of being here in the playoffs again, we’re really excited. We can’t wait.”
Hurts reportedly had a successful practice on Friday and was able to put the franchise’s worries at ease.
“For not throwing yesterday, we were all pretty concerned,” receiver and returner Britain Covey said Friday. “I think everyone was concerned. And then for him to go out there today and do it the way he did it, it was kind of a sigh of relief from everyone. Including himself, I think.
“He wasn’t just throwing; he was throwing deep balls, he was throwing lasers. I don’t think it will be something that affects him. I haven’t asked him, but just seeing him in person doing it — it was a sigh of relief for all of us.”
Ahead of Monday night’s game, Hurts was seen with two fingers wrapped.
Jalen Hurts has two fingers wrapped as he walks into the stadium: https://t.co/I6gU6OnWjY
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) January 15, 2024
Hurts has dealt with injuries throughout his career – an ankle injury in 2021, a shoulder injury last year, a knee injury this year – but this was the first time since he became a starter he hasn’t missed a game.
He joined Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb, and Carson Wentz as the fourth Eagles quarterback to start every game in a season over the last 40 years.
“Jalen’s a resilient dude, and whatever he wants, he’s going to go get, regardless,” Eagles tight end Jack Stoll said. “Nothing surprises me with Jalen. I think to him, I’m not even sure an injury is really a roadblock. It’s just something you just fight through as part of the game. It’s cool having a guy like that that you know is going to go out there and fight.”
The Eagles face the Buccaneers on Monday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
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