Five weeks since Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts played a game in London with a blood clot in his leg, the NFL and NFL Players Association have not yet begun an official investigation of the situation.
As noted on Friday by Tim McManus of ESPN, the league and the union are still working “to hammer out [the] parameters” of the investigation.
That has not stopped the NFL from providing some preliminary information to Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), who previously expressed concerns about the situation in a letter to the league.
“As outlined by the league and NFLPA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, mutually agreed-upon independent medical experts will review the matter and share their conclusions and recommendations with both parties,” NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and health policy Jeff Miller said in a statement that was released by Blunt Rochester’s office on Friday.
It’s still unclear how the investigation will proceed or what it will entail. The NFLPA has not yet invoked its absolute right to launch an investigation under Article 39 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement as the communications with the league continue.
The ensuing delay is approaching the status of “head scratching.” With games being played every Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, there’s a constant risk of a similar situation arising. The sooner the Hurts situation is properly explored and any lessons learned from it are put into action, the sooner all players will benefit from any enhanced protections.
The Eagles and the league created widespread skepticism regarding whether a coverup is happening. (The NFL may not appreciate that being said, but that doesn’t make the perception inaccurate.) The NFLPA can’t afford to be viewed as being complicit in an effort to sweep the incident under the rug.
Through it all, the most effective investigative process comes from litigation, an adversarial process aimed at getting to the truth. However it happens as to Hurts, the only goal should be getting to the truth about why it all happened — and how it can be prevented from happening again.