Ad Disclosure
As the Jalen Hurts Blood Clot Saga Takes Another Turn, Let’s Talk About the Joint Statement with Agent Nicole Lynn
Published:
Some updates on the Jalen Hurts blood clot saga.
Tuesday, NFL officials surprisingly, and somewhat vociferously, defended the way in which the Eagles handled the situation. Chief medical officer Dr. Allan Sills said, quote, “The notion that there’s external factors that any of our physicians would put a player in harm’s way – that’s nonsense.“
The NFLPA then came out a few hours later with a statement saying that it wasn’t aware of any investigation into the care that Hurts received in London or in Philadelphia.
In this clip here, the insiders tidily summarize the NFL’s response, and then I’ve dropped the union’s statement in afterward:
This isn’t very complicated on the surface. As Fred Durst once said, it’s all about the he said/she said bullshit. As of October 21st, you’ve got the NFL on one side saying that the situation was handled properly, and then the players association on the other side saying, “hold up, we should do a full investigation here to clear things up.” (paraphrasing) You wouldn’t expect anything less from the NFLPA, would you? Of course they should want a full investigation to determine if a player was given the proper care in a situation like this. And if the NFL is steadfast in its belief that this was handled the right way, then officials would invite a query without consternation.
As you know, everyone is now a medical expert, and has shared their opinion about the matter on Twitter. Some people will take things at face value while others think everything is a conspiracy, or that there’s information being withheld. Usually the truth is somewhere in the middle, but it’s impossible for us to determine since we were not in the room with Jalen Hurts or any of the doctors, nor are we privy to the highest of high-level information.
But we always try to look for clues that suggest one thing or another, and I personally thought it was very interesting that Jalen’s agent, Nicole Lynn, did a joint statement with the Eagles on Monday, when he was ruled out for the season:
Now, maybe it’s just me, but if there was legitimate friction in how the Eagles handled the situation, do you think the agent would have done a joint statement with the team? Because a joint statement suggests that the Birds and Lynn are on the same page, and nobody is more committed to the best interests of a player than the agent who has been with him since the start of his NFL career. Lynn works for Klutch and has represented Hurts since 2020, negotiating his $255 million contract extension back in 2023.
Sure, the natural retort would be something like, “well, of course she wants to maintain a good relationship with the Eagles, she wants to get Jalen another contract and / or will have future dealings with Howie Roseman.” That’s fair, but I don’t think you show your hand this early in the process if you have reservations about how your client was treated. Do you think she’s going to be blackballed by the Eagles if she doesn’t do a joint blood clot statement? I don’t. Plus, they’re not gonna give Hurts another big money contract anyway. You know it and I know it. That’s just not how the Eagles operate. They haven’t done that since Donovan McNabb.
We haven’t written much about this story on Crossing Broad for the simple reason that we don’t really know shit about it. There’s always speculation, conspiracy, shoddy reporting, COVID shot accusations (vaxxed?), all of that stuff. Nobody can say for sure. But I thought both statements the Eagles put out were transparent and comprehensive. They were four paragraphs long, each. This wasn’t some two-sentence bullshit, like “Hurts is out for the year / we will provide updates when necessary.”
But, after that, it was goofy to send Nick Sirianni out there by himself to answer questions on Monday afternoon. Nick’s not a doctor. Nick’s not even a great public speaker to begin with. And sure, this is complicated and you have to get your messaging right and get everybody on the same page from a public relations standpoint, but older Eagles fans will recall when they sent trainer Rick Burkholder up there during the Andy Reid years to explain player injuries and speak from a position of expertise. Something like that might go a long way towards matching the transparency they showed in the two statements released over the past week.
Regardless, the speculation will continue!
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com