Since I wrote about the Jalen Hurts blood clot situation that has the Philadelphia Eagles under scrutiny, the public received two competing signals from the NFL and its players’ union. Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's Chief Medical Officer, came out with what sounded like a defense of the Eagles, based on an investigation into the matter. Soon after, the NFLPA released a statement saying they were not made aware that any such investigation was being conducted and actually were told it wouldn’t be.
The immediate early week trend was to declare the Philadelphia Eagles something akin to murderers, and while they may well have acted wrongly, some caution on murky medical matters is probably prudent. All that said, there’s an elephant in the room regarding player safety here, one that’s less fashionable in NFL media to broach. As an anti-NFL globalist, it is my duty to observe that, while playing football is inherently unsafe, flying these 53-man rosters around the world to engage in this violent sport adds risk factors to an already overburdened circumstance. Though it’s theoretically possible that nobody acted wrongly in the specific Jalen Hurts matter, the situation is also illustrative as to why the big NFL global push, which has yet to generate tangible revenue by the way, presents under-discussed player problems. Just look at the timeline in this case, based on recent reporting. It’s something the NFL really doesn’t want media to talk about, perhaps more so than the situation itself.