Given the recent reports of Jalen Hurts’ deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary embolism, I see a lot of speculation on social media suggesting this is related to COVID-19 vaccines, which he publicly acknowledged taking back in 2021. Confirmed reports establish that the clot started in the calf (which was cleated in the game with the Rams a few days before), and was first detected as a superficial clot after an intercontinental flight. It then progressed to a confirmed deep vein thrombosis, with further imaging showing bilateral pulmonary embolism (multiple clots across both lungs). Calf trauma plus a long flight are typical conditions for such an event. Setting aside whether the numerous population-level studies show increased DVT/PE risk after COVID vaccination, and whether there is any documentation or even a plausible mechanism for how a shot could increase clotting risk years down the road, there is another question: are DVT/PE and other documented clotting events actually more common in pro athletes in recent years? Many on social media say they never noticed these events before, or seem to think they are much more common now, at a rate never seen before. Is there an actual increase in reported events among pro athletes since the pandemic, or is this Frequency Illusion: you notice something more often once you’ve seen a media report or have some other reason to focus on it, when in fact it hasn’t substantially increased? A 2017 paper by Bishop et al. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article…) tracked 55 VTE events in pro athletes from 1999 to 2016, so we know these events have occurred in the past, even if they were not noticed as much as they are now. An interesting question is whether the number of such events since the pandemic (2020–2026) is substantially higher than in the preceding 7 years (2013–2019). To look at this, I tried an audit of all reported clotting events in active professional athletes in the four major US sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) from 2013 through 10/19/26. Media reports are often imprecise about the formal clinical diagnosis (DVT/PE vs. other clots), so I focused mainly on all clotting events, while documenting which were confirmed DVT and/or PE. The DVT/PE label depends on how much detail a team discloses, which varies by era and case, so I treat all clotting events combined as the more reliable measure; the DVT/PE-only counts are small and shift with how each report is classified. Active pro athletes are a useful group to look at to assess these questions. A serious clotting event is more likely to be reported than in the general population (although teams don’t always give details), so it’s more likely to be found by this kind of audit. This Google sheet has a list of all such events I could find, with details and links documenting each one: docs.google.com/spreadsheets… The list is provisional, and you’re welcome to check it and add to it (with links). This is not a formal epidemiological study, which would require systematic case ascertainment, more consistent capture of events (rather than relying on internet reports), and consideration of other relevant factors. It’s a quick, amateur attempt to pull together public information to see whether there is evidence of a substantial increase. Below are tables with annual counts by sport and overall, plus the average number of reported events per year for 2013–2019, 2020–2021, and 2022–2026. These are raw data, with no formal statistical inference. Repeat episodes in the same athlete are counted separately. We do see an increase in NFL players since the pandemic (0.86 to 1.88 events/yr), but there is no reason to focus only on NFL. Athletes in the other major leagues got the vaccines too, and serious clotting events among them would also get media attention and show up in internet searches. Across all four sports, we do not see evidence of a substantial increase (4.7/yr in 2013–2019 vs 4.8/yr in 2022–2026, and 2.0/yr in 2020–2021). With counts this small, year-to-year swings are mostly noise. And I’d expect my searches to find recent events more easily than older ones, which if anything would push toward seeing an increase. These events have always occurred, even if they weren’t noticed or publicized as much. It is not clear that their incidence has increased substantially, or at all, since the pandemic, much less that events occurring now are related to vaccinations received years ago. I’m not aware of evidence or a plausible biological mechanism for that. It is important to track and study such events to identify and characterize any increases, but the speculation that clots in current athletes were caused by COVID vaccines lacks evidence and plausibility. Caption for tables: Publicly reported blood-clotting episodes among active MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL players, 2013–October 2026 (confirmed DVT/PE and other clots combined). Recurrent episodes counted separately. Counts are not population incidence rates and depend on public reporting and case ascertainment. 2026 is through October 19 and pro-rated.