NFL officials Tuesday staunchly defended the medical process involving Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts' blood clot issue.
NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills was blunt in a news conference from the owners meetings.
"The notion that there's external factors that any of our physicians would put a player in harm's way -- that's nonsense," Sills said.
The NFL is not punishing the Eagles for the handling of Hurts, who was cleared to play before Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after he was initially diagnosed with a superficial blood clot in his calf.
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Hurts, 28, is expected to miss the rest of the season after doctors discovered multiple blood clots in the quarterback's lungs days after the game. Hurts will undergo treatment involving blood thinners that is expected to sideline the three-time Pro Bowler for around three months.
Hurts' agent, Nicole Lynn, and the Eagles released a statement Monday detailing Hurts' condition. Lynn and the Eagles said Hurts has deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli, meaning a blood clot traveled from his legs to his lungs.
NFL officials confirmed Tuesday that it had been in contact with Eagles medical personnel and Cleveland Clinic London throughout the process of Hurts being treated. Sills called the Eagles' treatment of Hurts "very conservative, very patient-focused and appropriately guarded in every step."
This week's news prompted rampant speculation about why the Eagles allowed Hurts to play in London.
Jeff Miller, NFL executive vice president overseeing player health and safety, called such speculation "considerable and uninformed," as well as "unfounded."
"Conservative steps were taken to ensure Jalen Hurts' health was always made the first priority and continues to be," Miller said.
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The NFL declined to discuss specifics of Hurts' case, citing medical privacy. But Sills, who has been a team physical for three decades, said he has "tremendous confidence" in the Eagles' medical staff. The NFL works one to two years in advance of international games to prep for medical care, identifying local hospitals, physicians and resources at every site.
The medical experts tasked with evaluating players in such cases are not influenced by the team, Sills said.
"There is no doctor who is taking orders from a football person, a non-medical person. Period," Sills said.
Doctors speculating online about "what should have been done" without all the data or being in the room with a patient are "unprofessional and unethical" in doing so, Sills said, citing a "sacred trust" between physicians and patients.
The NFL has tracked blood clot cases every season for the last decade and shares the data with the NFLPA, Sills said. Each year features a handful of cases.
"This isn't really a new situation, but it's something we examine," Sills said.
The threshold for people flying with superficial blood clots, which Hurts did on the way home from London, depends on the "nuances of each situation," Sills said, adding that the NFL spends significant time planning for player safety as it relates to long flights for international play.