Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts missed the team’s final two games of the regular season after suffering a concussion in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders.
With the NFL playoffs getting underway, let’s examine whether Hurts will be available for the Wild Card Round against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
What Is Jalen Hurts’ Injury?
With 9:52 remaining in the first quarter of the Eagles’ Week 16 loss to the Commanders, Hurts took a hard hit following a 13-yard scramble.
After the quarterback collided with a pair of Commanders defenders, Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu, the officials told him to leave the game to be evaluated by the independent neurotrauma consultant.
Hurts seemed to want to re-enter the game shortly after, but he was held back by medical personnel and went to the blue medical tent for further evaluation.
After further testing, Hurts was ruled out for the remainder of the game. He missed the remainder of the regular season and didn’t resume practicing until this week.
Will Hurts Play In the Wild Card Round?
While there was initially some concern that Hurts might miss Sunday’s playoff matchup against the Packers, he is officially good to go for Sunday’s game against the Packers.
He was a full participant in practice on Thursday and the Eagles announced that he has cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol, meaning he’ll play in the Wild Card Round.
While some assumed that Hurts was one of many Eagles simply resting in Week 18 against the New York Giants, he couldn’t have played in that game because he was still in the league’s concussion protocol.
Fortunately, he was able to clear the protocol this week.
How Does a Player Clear the NFL’s Concussion Protocol?
As soon as a player is ruled out with a concussion, he enters into the NFL’s concussion protocol and cannot play until he passes each step. There is no set time to return to play or expected time to progress through each step of the protocol, as the recovery time for concussions varies from player to player.
Here are the five steps that the NFL and NFLPA agreed to for a player to return from a concussion:
Phase 1 (Symptom-Limited Activity)
The player is prescribed rest and told to limit or, if necessary, avoid activities (both physical and cognitive) that increase or aggravate symptoms. Under athletic training staff supervision, limited stretching and balance training can be introduced, progressing to light aerobic exercise, all as tolerated.
Phase 2 (Aerobic Exercise)
Under direct oversight of the team’s medical staff, the player should begin graduated cardiovascular exercise and may also engage in dynamic stretching and balance training. Neurocognitive and balance testing can be administered after completion of Phase 2, and the results should be interpreted as back to baseline.
Phase 3 (Football-Specific Exercise)
The player continues with supervised cardiovascular exercises that are increased and may mimic sport-specific activities, and supervised strength training is introduced. The player is allowed to practice with the team in sport-specific exercises for 30 minutes or less with ongoing and careful monitoring.
Phase 4 (Club-Based Non-Contact Training Drills)
The player continues cardiovascular, strength, and balance training, team-based sports-specific exercise, and participates in non-contact football activities (e.g. throwing, catching, running, and other position-specific activities). Neurocognitive and balance testing should be completed no later than the end of Phase Four with the results interpreted as back to baseline.
Phase 5 (Full Football Activity/Clearance)
Upon clearance by the team physician for full football activity involving contact, the player must be examined by the Independent Neurological Consultant (INC) assigned to his club. If the INC concurs with the team physician that the player’s concussion has been resolved, he may participate in his team’s next practice or game.
Hurts’ Fantasy Outlook for the Wild Card Round
Hurts is trusting his reads longer (and so is the coaching staff), a continued trend from the past few seasons. His quick pass rate in 2022 was 69.8% — it dipped to 61.7% in 2023 and finished this year at 57.3%. This is allowing his talented teammates to work downfield; against a Packers secondary with question marks, that fuels considerable upside.
Week 1 was forever ago, but we had a healthy version of this Eagles team. That seems to be the case here (assuming that Hurts is good to go). In that win, Hurts was locked onto A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith (62.1% of targets, 60% of completions, and 73% of pass yards). He has posted:
- Over 30 rushing yards in four of five career playoff games
- A rushing TD or a dozen rush attempts in 13 of 14 healthy games this season
The rushing upside speaks for itself, and if he is going to rely heavily on his most talented teammates, Hurts has every chance to be the leading scoring player in this round.
He won’t be a unique DFS play, but with three other athletic quarterbacks on the slate, I don’t expect any singular QB to be too popular.
Packers vs. Eagles Game Preview
- Location: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
- Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox/Fox Deportes
Jordan Love isn’t afraid to take chances. While that creates some downside, his style of play has paid off more often than not up to this point in the season.
The issue is now it must pay off against elite competition, all while Love battles a right elbow injury that caused him to miss much of the team’s Week 18 loss to the Bears. Love has averaged -0.06 EPA per dropback in five games against the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, and Eagles this season. Against all other teams, he’s averaged 0.21 EPA per dropback.
Saquon Barkley has opened up offensive versatility that simply didn’t exist last season. The ninth 2,000-yard rusher in NFL history led the top-ranked offense by EPA per rush (0.08) excluding Week 18 (when Philadelphia benched nearly all of its starters).
The Eagles can produce against anyone, but if the offensive line remains a liability when it comes to pass blocking, Philly could be in a precarious spot if it falls behind.
The Eagles are the worst team at preventing pressure when not blitzed, a flaw that could undo all the good it’s capable of doing. That said, with playmakers at every level, counting this offense out isn’t a wise move as long as Jalen Hurts recovers from his concussion before the Wild Card Round.
The play of the Packers’ offensive line has been fairly inconsistent since its bye week, but they rank ninth in the league over the past four weeks. The overall numbers do not appear to be anything to worry about, and a strong showing up front against the Lions in Week 14 is a strong reason for optimism in the playoffs.
This week, they face a Philadelphia team that they graded as a B- against last time out. However, that was back in Week 1, so both teams have changed significantly. The Eagles’ OL has also been all over the map in recent weeks. They rank 27th over the final four weeks with D+ grades against the Commanders and Steelers.
There isn’t a statistical flaw in Philadelphia’s defense, which ranks top 10 in every metric that encompasses our Defense+ grades (except for sack rate, where they’re 15th). That makes them an incredibly dangerous threat to win the NFC, even without the top seed.
Five of the Packers’ six losses came against the Eagles, Vikings, and Lions, which bodes ominously for a playoff run that starts in Philadelphia. The offensive injuries were the bigger concern coming out of Week 18. For the Packers to make a run in the playoffs, they’ll need this unit’s variance to swing in the right direction.