When will Jalen Hurts play again? Latest on Eagles QB’s concussion and what’s next for him

PHILADELPHIA − Now that Jalen Hurts is missing his first game, it’s likely that he will miss a second, whether he has recovered from his concussion or not.

Hurts remained in the NFL’s concussion protocol as of Friday. He didn’t participate, let alone attend, any of the practices last week. It was a sign that Hurts wasn’t close to returning in time for the Eagles‘ game Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.

Kenny Pickett is starting in Hurts’ place.

One of the five steps toward returning is being able to practice. Once that happens, Hurts would have to get cleared by the Eagles’ team doctor and an independent neurologist to play in a game.

The Eagles (12-3) close out the regular season next Sunday by playing the New York Giants, who are 2-13.

“He’s in the concussion protocol, so not a lot I can comment on on that,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

Jalen Hurts (1) of the Philadelphia Eagles warms up before the game against the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Dec. 22, 2024, in Landover, Md.

That, of course, means there’s no predicting how long it will take a player to recover, unlike, say, if Hurts had suffered a hamstring injury.

But since the Eagles have only a slim chance of getting the No. 1 seed, they can use the finale as a bye week for most of the starters. Only the No. 1 seed gets a first-round bye in the playoffs, which start the weekend of Jan. 11-13.

The Eagles still haven’t clinched the NFC East. But even the prospect of ending up as a wildcard team wouldn’t necessarily outweigh a week of rest heading into the playoffs.

For Hurts, an extra week of rest would give his concussion more time to heal, not to mention the broken finger on his left, non-throwing, hand. And if the Eagles are treating next week as a bye week, there’s no way they would play Hurts behind a backup offensive line.

Sirianni said he wasn’t thinking about any of those scenarios, at least not publicly.

“Just worried about beating Dallas right now,” Sirianni said. “This is a good football team that has played really good football over the past month. All our focus and attention is on them and the things we need to do to have success against them. We’ll have to be on our stuff because it’s a good football team.”