Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is active Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks after he was downgraded to questionable Sunday because of an illness.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, made Geno Smith active after missing last week’s game with a groin injury, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he would start. The team elevated Sean Mannion from their practice squad Monday afternoon. He’ll serve as their third quarterback behind Smith and Drew Lock, who started last week with Smith out.
Hurts, whose illness had worsened overnight Saturday into Sunday, traveled to Seattle separately from the team to try to avoid getting anyone else sick.
Hurts’ chances of playing in Seattle were improved by the flexing of Eagles-Seahawks to “Monday Night Football” instead of the originally scheduled game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. If the Eagles-Seahawks game were played Sunday as originally planned, Hurts would have had a tougher time playing.
Hurts, 25, did not practice Saturday. The 2022 Pro Bowler has passed for 3,192 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and has scored 12 rushing touchdowns this season, tied for the second most in the NFL.
Smith had been listed as questionable with the groin injury that sidelined him last week in Seattle’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
During his pregame appearance on Seattle Sports 710-AM, general manager John Schneider said Smith surprised the Seahawks with how good he looked in pregame warmups. Schneider indicated uncertainty as to whether or not Smith would start, saying they still had about an hour “to figure out what’s going on.”
Schneider noted that Lock took all the first-team reps in practice this past week.
Shortly after Schneider spoke, roughly 45 minutes before kickoff, Smith was not going through warmups with Lock and Mannion.
Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon (hip pointer) and safety Jamal Adams (knee) are both inactive. Neither practiced at all this past week.
Smith hurt his groin Dec. 7, when he took an awkward step after tripping over a defender in practice. He didn’t practice the next day and worked out at Levi’s Stadium in an attempt to play, but coach Pete Carroll said afterward that he didn’t have the necessary mobility.
Carroll sounded optimistic this past Thursday about the progress Smith was making, saying he “feels really good.” Smith, though, sounded uncertain the next day when asked whether he would play against the Eagles, saying, “We’ll see.” The Seahawks listed him as a limited participant all week.
The Seahawks (6-7) have lost four straight games for the first time since Carroll became their coach in 2010. According to ESPN Analytics, they have a 32% chance to make the playoffs entering Monday night’s game. That would improve to 55% with a win and drop to 16% with a loss.
ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.
