Did Nick Sirianni accidentally reveal that Jalen Hurts is dealing with an ankle injury? [UPDATE]

UPDATE: New reporting from ESPN’s Tim McManus states Jalen Hurts is indeed dealing with an ankle injury.

According to a league source, Hurts has been dealing with a mild ankle issue for a couple weeks. A separate league source described it as “lower leg soreness” and that his limited practice Wednesday was for load management purposes, with the Eagles playing two games in a span of five days against the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders. The source added that Hurts was held back from dropping and planting during the individual periods but did throw the football later Wednesday during team walkthrough.

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW.

Interesting moment from Nick Sirianni’s Friday morning press conference: the Philadelphia Eagles head coach was asked why Jalen Hurts was listed as limited with a “rest” designation on the injury report earlier this week since that’s not the norm for him.

Here’s the entire exchange in text form:

Q: We haven’t really seen Jalen be held back for load management before. What was behind that on Wednesday?

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he was dealing with— it was on the injury report. Dealing with the ankle. And, you know, making sure we’re cautious with everything.

Q: He wasn’t on the injury report with an ankle.

Q: I’m sorry, Jalen Hurts, it was an ankle injury?

NICK SIRIANNI: What’s that?

EAGLES PR: It was a “rest.”

NICK SIRIANNI: It was a rest, yeah. Sorry. I thought you were talking about something else.

Q: Is Jalen dealing with an ankle problem, then?

NICK SIRIANNI: No. Rest.

And here’s a video version of the exchange:

If we’re to take Sirianni at his word, he misspoke. It happens!

But it’s not easy to understand what caused his confusion if that’s truly the case.

Did Sirianni think he was being asked about Jalen Carter since the reporter only used the first name “Jalen”? The problem with that is Carter isn’t even on the injury report this week. He was on it last week … but that was with a shoulder issue.

Did Sirianni confuse Hurts for another player dealing with an ankle injury? The problem with that is Mekhi Becton and Ainias Smith are the only others listed with an “ankle” designation on this week’s injury report. Hard to believe Sirianni is confusing Hurts with either or those two guys.

And so one can only wonder if Sirianni spilled the beans on Hurts dealing with an ankle injury.

It’s probably worth noting that Hurts spent some time on the ground before getting up wincing after taking a sack in the Eagles’ win over the Jacksonville Jaguars:

Jalen Hurts was slow to get up and wincing after getting sacked at a point in the Jaguars game. Wasn’t evaluated in the medical tent and obviously didn’t miss any snaps.#Eagles pic.twitter.com/qxBW4BV1CO

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) November 8, 2024

Hurts was not limited as a runner after this play, however. Case in point: he had an 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Two drives later, he took off for 21 yards — his longest run of the game — to convert a 3rd-and-9.

Still, it’s never comforting for fans to know that their starting quarterback might be banged up. Which … might contribute to why the team might not have been totally transparent about his status?

Perhaps Hurts’ ankle injury — assuming he has one — isn’t considered to be super serious and that’s why the Eagles went with the “rest” designation. All NFL players are likely dealing with bumps and bruises, especially by this point in this season. Even so, if his practice workload is limited due in any part to his ankle, the public messaging should probably reflect as much … especially when there are penalties for teams not being forthcoming with injury information.

That or everyone on the team should be more collectively on the same page if they’re not going to be fully forthcoming.

As it currently stands, Hurts is not expected to miss playing time. He was upgraded from being limited on Wednesday to full participation on Thursday’s injury report. He’s on track to start against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 10.