Sirianni says Hurts ‘dealing with the ankle’ after rest designation originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jalen Hurts was listed as a limited participant after Wednesday’s walkthrough with a “rest” designation.
But when asked about that on Friday, Nick Sirianni brought up an ankle injury.
Here’s the unusual back-and-forth with Sirianni from Friday’s press conference:
Reporter: We haven’t really seen Jalen be held back for load management before. What was behind that on Wednesday?
Sirianni: Yeah, he was dealing with, it was on the injury report, dealing with the ankle. Just making sure we’re precautious with everything.
Reporter: I’m sorry, Jalen Hurts. It was an ankle?
Sirianni: What’s that?
PR staffer: It was a “rest.”
Sirianni: That was the “rest.” Sorry. I thought you were talking about something else. All right.
Reporter: Is Jalen dealing with an ankle problem?
Sirianni: No. Rest.
For the record, the only players on the report this week with ankle injuries are offensive lineman Mekhi Becton and receiver Ainias Smith. The only other Jalen on the roster — Jalen Carter — has not been on the injury report this week. Carter has popped up on the report a couple times in the last few weeks but both times with a shoulder injury. Sirianni certainly didn’t confuse his starting quarterback with any of them.
It seems pretty obvious that Hurts is dealing with a minor ankle injury. It just also seems like the head coach let it slip after the team decided to not put it on the injury report.
Teams and coaches can be fined by the NFL for violating the league’s injury report policy.
A few things can be true here. Plenty of NFL players by Week 10 of the season are dealing with bumps and bruises — Hurts among them. But it’s obviously notable that the Eagles didn’t disclose the injury until the head coach mentioned it on his own. The Eagles will play two games in five days beginning with a game against the Cowboys on Sunday. Saquon Barkley also had a “rest” designation on Wednesday.
When asked directly on Wednesday if he was injured or was out for rest, Hurts said, “Rest.”
“I just do what I’m told,” Hurts said.
Hurts was limited on Wednesday but was a full participant on Thursday and then was back at practice on Friday.
Hurts this season has played 532 snaps out of 544 for the team. Since the bye week, he has been very productive and efficient. During this four-game winning streak, Hurts has completed 72.3% of his passes for 844 yards with 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He has also had 44 rushing attempts for 159 yards and 6 more scores.
This apparent ankle injury doesn’t appear to be something that will hold Hurts back on Sunday against the Cowboys. But it is something worth monitoring going forward.
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