Esteemed surgeon weighs in on Jalen Hurts health, mechanics

As they have done for years, Angelo Cataldi and the Morning Team woke up early to dissect the Philadelphia Eagles‘ most recent game on 94 WIP-FM. The NFL’s final Sunday of the regular season brought with it a division-clinching win versus the New York Giants. That assured the Birds of the top seed in the NFC, but admittedly, there are some concerns in the community. The largest of which surrounds the health of QB1, Jalen Hurts.

No one can deny QB1 is a tough son of a gun, but it’s obvious that he is still dealing with the effects of the shoulder injury he sustained in Week 15 versus the Chicago Bears. On Monday, Dr. Mark Schwartz, an orthopedic surgeon in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, joined Cataldi and company to share his theories on what he’s seeing.

There are concerns about Jalen Hurts’ physical readiness as the Eagles begin a playoff push.

Here are a few quotes. The first is his answer to whether or not Jalen appeared constricted in any way or was in distress.

"(I couldn’t tell if he was in distress). I was looking for more of his velocity and his accuracy. I don’t think he’s one hundred percent with those two things yet, but that may have been partially (due to) the way they designed the game plan for him also."

On whether or not Hurts is risking further injury by playing before he’s fully healed, Dr. Schwartz said the following.

"My understanding was his injury is a sprain to the sternoclavicular joint, and what that really is… We very commonly hear acromioclavicular or A.C. joint, where the collar bone meets the very end of the shoulder (on the) outside. This is the opposite end. This is where the clavicle meets the breastbone, the sternum. It’s a much less-common injury. The good news is that this was diagnosed, more or less, with an MRI which means it’s probably a Grade 1 or maybe Grade 1 Plus which is probably a mild to moderate sprain. The good news is these generally heal in about anywhere from about six weeks, so we’re about four weeks into this. The most important thing was he not reinjure it and take another blow."

Dr. Schwartz also stated that discomfort that lingers from this injury could continue for up to eight weeks and that most discomfort comes from motions that come “across the shoulder” i.e. throwing across his body, but two weeks from now, Jalen should be in better shape and more comfortable than he is in now.

Numbing injections are possible. Once we reach five weeks from the date of injury, Dr. Schwartz believes Jalen should be at 85 to 90 percent healthy.

First and foremost, we’ll say this. Everyone wants Jalen Hurts to be healthy for the long term, and it appears that, with rest, he will be. Unfortunately, there is minimal time for rest. The Birds play an unknown opponent two weekends from now. The bye week helps. That will allow QB1 and his Eagles teammates a much-needed break, but make no mistake about it. All eyes will continue to follow Philadelphia’s most famous shoulder.