Jalen Hurts injury update: NFL insider shares major details on status vs. Commanders

Jalen Hurts had a good week dealing with his knee injury, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Hurts injured his knee during the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Divisional Playoff win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Well, he’ll be good to go against the Washington Commanders Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. It’s just a matter of how limited he’ll be in the running game, playing off star RB Saquon Barkley.

Fowler provided the latest Saturday morning.

“Well, I checked with somebody with the team, they said he had a good week, that he was trying to feel out his knee issue early in the week, just to make sure he’s not put too much strain on it, but he got through it,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “Feels like he can push off it and do everything he needs to help the team win, but they’re going to see how he feels on game day. Now he has no injury designation. It’s really more about can he run the full game plan? Can they do the run-pass option stuff with him as a runner? (Commanders’) Defensive Coordinator Joe Witt said ‘look if they try to treat him like a running back we’re going to hit him like a running back’ so he could take a physical toll during this big game.”

Hurts finished the game against the Rams 15-of-20 passing for 128 yards, 70 rushing yards and one rushing score.

Fellow ESPN NFL analyst Bart Scott warned though that in his mind, Hurts being upgraded to a full participant doesn’t mean much.

“Listen, these are like dress walk-throughs essentially, right? Guys are all banged up. You probably don’t have pads on. There’s no contact. You’re going through your script,” Scott said. “We don’t know if these guys can handle the pounding. They won’t know that until they get into pregame and they kind of bang against each other as we self-scout each other. We don’t know and he won’t know.

“I’m sure they’ll take the pill, or they’ll take the shot. And they’ll try to nullify some of the pain. But when you get live, you get hit on that, you’re going to feel it. It could compromise Jalen Hurts. And if we have a compromised Jalen Hurts then Houston, we have a problem with that explosive run game.”

Hurts and the Eagles were the No. 2 seed in this year’s NFC playoffs following a 14-3 regular season, their second 14-win season under Nick Sirianni. After leading Philadelphia to Super Bowl LVII, the Eagles collapsed down the stretch in 2023, losing in the Wild Card Round.

But with a win at home over a division rival Sunday, the Eagles would reach the fifth Super Bowl in franchise history.