Nick Sirianni: For Jalen Hurts to be cleared, he’ll have to be healthy enough so the Eagles don’t put his body at risk

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni remains tight-lipped on starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has missed the last two games — both losses — with the injury to his throwing shoulder.

Last week, Hurts returned to the practice field for the first time since he suffered the injury Dec. 18 at Chicago. Hurts threw passes during the portion of practice open to reporters, but Sirianni acknowledged that backup Gardner Minshew took all of the reps with the first-team offense that typically are designated for Hurts.

Minshew had an underwhelming performance during the team’s 20-10 upset loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. He was sacked six times and completed 18 of 32 passes for 274 yards with one touchdown and a fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a Saints touchdown.

» READ MORE: The Eagles won’t win anything without NFL MVP and ‘difference-maker’ Jalen Hurts

After becoming the first team in the NFL to clinch a playoff spot, the Eagles have yet to clinch the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the NFC East title. All of those stakes, including guaranteeing themselves a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, will be on the line in the regular-season finale against the New York Giants at 4:25 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Whether Hurts returns for the looming Week 18 matchup remains to be seen.

Asked by WIP-FM if the importance of the Giants game would have any bearing on whether Hurts plays, Sirianni said Tuesday, “If Jalen’s ready to play health-wise, then we’ll play him. And I think especially seeing yesterday Damar [Hamlin] and everything, we’ve got to think of our player safety first and foremost every single time regardless of the circumstances of ‘this is a must-win’ or ‘this has to happen here.’”

“I know Jalen wants to get back,” Sirianni said Monday. “That’s been his message to me ever since this happened. It’s hard to keep him down because of how tough he is, the kind of competitor he is. He wants to go. ... Obviously, he’s disappointed like we’re all disappointed walking out of that stadium. Jalen is an ultimate competitor.”

» READ MORE: What we learned from Eagles-Saints: Jalen Hurts may have to play at less than 100%

Sirianni also discussed defensive end Josh Sweat, who suffered a neck injury on the opening drive of Sunday’s game, was carted off the field on a stretcher, and was taken to a hospital. He was released from the hospital Sunday evening and posted on Twitter that he would “be back this season!” Sirianni said Tuesday on WIP that player safety was his priority as players would play through anything if the team allowed them to, noting, “I talked to Sweat yesterday, he wants to play in this [next] game.”

“We’ll take Josh one day at a time,” Sirianni said Monday. “I’m just really thankful that it wasn’t more serious there and I know everybody in that stadium was holding their breath because anytime that stretcher comes out, that’s tough to deal with. Josh was saying, ‘Hey, let me get up. I can get up.’ The doctors in that scenario have to make sure they go through all the right scenarios. I felt a little more at ease because of what Josh was saying out there.”