Jalen Hurts is likely to play Sunday. That doesn’t mean his health shouldn’t concern the Eagles.

Jalen Hurts, by every available indication at the moment, will play Sunday against the Washington Commanders. It is Week 8. It is early for his health to be a thing, but a thing, it is.

Over Hurts’ two-plus years as the Eagles’ undisputed starting quarterback, his health and availability have been concerns before, but never so soon in a season. In 2021, he injured his ankle on Nov. 28 against the Giants, sat out the following week’s game against the Jets, wore a walking boot after the Eagles’ playoff loss that season to the Buccaneers, then had surgery on the ankle. Last year, he sprained his right shoulder on Dec. 18 against the Bears, missed the next two games, and played through pain over the Eagles’ next four games, including Super Bowl LVII.

So an ankle thing. Then a shoulder thing. Now he has a knee thing. He played the second half of the Eagles’ victory Sunday over the Dolphins with his left leg wrapped in a brace. He has said that he didn’t suffer the injury, whatever the injury might be, during that game, that it happened before Sunday’s kickoff. So this knee thing apparently existed even a week earlier than one might have originally guessed.

Again, unless something happens to him at practice this week, he’s going to play Sunday at FedEx Field. The Eagles didn’t even list him on their injury report Wednesday. “We anticipate him to go, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “We’re hopeful there will be no limitations on Sunday.”

Really, though, the concern isn’t about the Commanders game as much as it’s about the games after it, particularly the games that everyone assumes the Eagles will be playing this January. As marvelous as Hurts was in that Super Bowl, he still wasn’t at full strength. He did not make it through either 2021 or 2022 without being hampered physically at the end, and in neither of those seasons was he hobbled by Week 7.

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“I don’t want to make it bigger than what it is,” he said Wednesday. “I think it’s something that comes with every player in this league. Things happen, and you find ways to overcome them.”

The question is not whether Hurts will overcome, or at least do everything he possibly can to overcome, this knee injury. The question is, what kind of shape will he be in come December, when the Eagles’ regular-season schedule increases in difficulty, and January? More, given his importance to the offense and the entire team, is there anything the Eagles can do to mitigate the chances that Hurts’ knee problem will worsen or that he suffers another injury?

It has looked for much of this season like they’ve tried. Hurts has thrown 32 more passes through seven games this season than he did through seven games last season, and he has appeared more apt to slide or give himself up on a run than he used to be. He is, in fact, carrying the ball less often, though not by much. Last season, he was averaging 11.3 rushing attempts through seven games. This season, he’s averaging 10.6 — not exactly a huge drop-off.

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This is a difficult line for Sirianni and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to walk. Jeffrey Lurie wants to get his money’s worth out of his investment in Hurts — upward of $255 million. He wants the Eagles to throw the ball, and he wants Hurts to be available to throw the ball, and Hurts needs to be available for the Eagles to have any shot at getting back to and winning the Super Bowl. Sirianni made a strong show of public confidence Wednesday in backup QB Marcus Mariota, but anyone who watched Mariota’s dreadful ‘22 season with the Atlanta Falcons has to know: If Hurts goes down, the Eagles are going down with him.

Hurts, though, wants to be himself as a quarterback, and he wants to be himself in full. Unlike Donovan McNabb, who over time bristled whenever he was praised for his mobility and who worked to de-emphasize that aspect of his game, Hurts treasures his ability to break from the pocket and dash for first downs and touchdowns. He believes it’s what separates him from his peers and competitors, and he seems to recoil from the notion that the Eagles are taking and should take steps to protect him — or that he should take steps to protect himself.

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“I don’t know that I’ve ever been banged up as a runner,” he said. “Everything comes from within the pocket.”

He should know, or maybe he doesn’t remember. He took a hit while scrambling outside the pocket against the Bears last year, was driven to the frozen ground of Soldier Field, and sprained his shoulder. It cost him two games, and it nearly cost the Eagles home-field advantage in the NFC. They would prefer to avoid a similar situation this season. They would prefer Jalen Hurts’ health to not be a thing. Too late. It already is.