Why Chiefs’ Kenneth Walker III, Trey Smith have Jalen Hurts in their prayers

National Vahe Gregorian admin October 25, 2026 0 Comments

Why Chiefs’ Kenneth Walker III, Trey Smith have Jalen Hurts in their prayers

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Kenneth Walker III said Jalen Hurts is in his prayers.

Walker and Smith each endured life-threatening blood clots in their lungs.

Further testing found Hurts had DVT and bilateral pulmonary emboli.

Kenneth Walker III doesn’t remember ever meeting Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Trey Smith knows him some … but not well enough to contact him directly.

But Hurts over the last week has been on the minds of the Chiefs star running back and stalwart guard, who are members of a club they’d rather not have joined by Hurts him — or anyone else, for that matter.

Each endured terrifying and life-threatening episodes with blood clots in his lungs, the very condition with which Hurts recently was diagnosed — and that is expected to sideline him the rest of the season.

Walker tends to be a man of few words, but he embraced the topic on Friday when asked about it by The Star.

“I’ll be praying for him, because that’s not something we should take lightly,” he said as the Chiefs prepared to take on his former team, reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle.

He added: “It can be life-changing.”

Walker, who suffered from blood clots in high school and initially believed he’d never be able to play again, was incredulous about the fact Hurts flew to London with the team for its game against Jacksonville.

“He went on the flight, huh, and everything?” he said, shaking his head and adding, “That’s crazy.”

Leading up to the overseas flight, the matter had been treated as an isolated calf injury. But after the Eagles arrived, an MRI revealed what the club called a superficial blood clot.

Hurts played that Sunday on scant sleep. Three days after the Eagles took another seven- or eight-hour flight home, further testing determined that the clot had moved.

A few days later, Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, and the Eagles released a joint statement saying that the diagnosis had become a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and bilateral pulmonary emboli — blood clots in the lungs.

Not long after the news broke, Smith heard about it through longtime friends who’d shared in his trials through college — part of his poignant broader story that The Star’s Sam McDowell chronicled movingly a few years ago.

Hurts’ situation was “an eerie reminder,” Smith told The Star on Friday in an interview at his locker.

But Smith also had encouragement for Hurts, whom Lynn and the Eagles said should be expected to make a full recovery with treatment from blood thinners that precludes contact activities for the next few months.

“It’s definitely a scary thing to deal with, but, I mean, shoot, there’s a lot of guys who’ve had it and are able to play and extend their career,” he said. “So I think that’s the positive side of it. He’s not in a situation where it is a death sentence, in terms of career, because in the past it was.”

With a somewhat rueful laugh, Smith noted Hurts was in “a way better position” than his own, back when he was dealing with it in college.

He hopes that Hurts takes solace in the knowledge he’s not the only athlete who’s faced this and that the example of others returning could be seen as light at the end of the tunnel.

“Obviously my heart goes out to him, his family,” he said. “Thank God they found it in time, and he’s OK. And he’ll get the proper treatment.”

Smith added, “So really just want to send, love, support and prayers. It’s a scary ordeal, but he’s going to come back from it stronger.”

In addition to hoping their examples might offer inspiration to Hurts, Walker and Smith each made it a point to say that the entire focus now should be not on the pace of Hurts’ return to football, but on doing all that’s necessary to return to good health.

Not that those are mutually exclusive, exactly, but first things first.

“He should just prioritize … taking his time,” Smith said. “It’s a serious matter.”

Asked what message he’d offer, Walker said, “Honestly, just stay positive and do all the things necessary that you need to do to get (your) body back right.”

This isn’t the first time Walker and Smith have combined to offer encouragement and awareness for the cause.

Each has been engaged, together and separately, with roles in the National Blood Clot Alliance’s ongoing “Stop The Clot, Spread The Word” campaign to raise awareness of the health hazards.

The Hurts episode is an apt reminder of why the organization seeks to educate the public more about symptoms and causes.

When I spoke recently with NBCA president and board chair Leslie Lake, she also stressed why it’s so crucial to be able to quickly identify signs.

By way of example, she pointed to how it can be pivotal in preventing the DVT in one’s calf “from becoming the (pulmonary embolism) in your lungs … that has the ability to kill you.”

Only weeks later, alas, Hurts became another face of the cause — as the NBCA addressed with what essentially was a public-service bulletin about the implications of his situation.

A condition that needs all the attention it can get — as Walker and Smith have known only too well.

This story was originally published October 24, 2026 at 6:30 AM with the headline “Why Chiefs’ Kenneth Walker III, Trey Smith have Jalen Hurts in their prayers.”