Published October 21, 2026 01:09 PM
The NFL Players Association has called for a “full investigation” regarding the circumstances surrounding Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts flying to London with a blood clot in his leg, playing with a blood clot in his leg, and flying back to Philadelphia with a blood clot in his leg.
The NFL has no problem with it.
“We welcome that,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Wednesday at the NFL quarterly ownership meetings in New York.
The NFLPA has the power to do it without the league’s blessing. Article 39, Section 5(f) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement gives the league and the NFLPA the independent ability to start the process.
"[T]he League or the NFLPA shall have the right to commence an investigation before the [Accountability and Care] Committee concerning the health, safety or medical care provided by Club-affiliated personnel,” the CBA states. “Within 60 days of the initiation of an investigation, two or more neutral physicians (or other subject-matter experts) will be selected to investigate and report to the Committee on the situation. The neutral physicians shall issue a written report within 60 days of their selection, and their recommendations as to what steps shall be taken to address and correct any issues shall be acted upon by the Parties.”
Reportedly, the NFL has already conducted its own investigation, resulting in a conclusion that the Eagles handled everything appropriately. Which is no surprise, given that the league and the Eagles worked together. A broader investigation is required.
And, as former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith explains it, the union should simply invoke Article 39, Section 5(f).
“I don’t know what it means to call for a full investigation when you have the unilateral right to do so yourself,” Smith said. “Since the 2011 CBA, we codified the right of the NFLPA to conduct a full medical investigation whenever it believed that a player’s health and safety was in jeopardy regardless of the position taken by the NFL’s Head of Safety/Head of Communications or its Chief Medical officer. They could just initiate their own investigation from the first moment they learned of this outrageous conduct.
“The only way to keep League and team medical professionals accountable to their Hippocratic oath to their patients is to exercise the rights players won in collective bargaining over 15 years ago.”
Those rights will apparently be exercised, whether the NFL welcomes it or not. Which is good.
There are too many questions that haven’t been answered, thanks to the Eagles and the league using patient privacy considerations as a shield. Even after multiple statements have been issued that specify the full details of Hurts’s current health status.