‘No Longer Just a Sports Story,’ ‘(Roger Goodell) Could Be in Trouble’ — Fans React As Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester Asks NFL for ‘Answers’ About Jalen Hurts
· Yahoo Sports
Jalen Hurts’ blood clots have already cost the Philadelphia Eagles their starting quarterback, who is on injured reserve and expected to miss the rest of the season.
On Wednesday, the questions about how the team handled his care reached the U.S. Senate, when Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., sent NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a letter asking whether the league will review the Eagles’ handling of the situation.
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A Senator’s Letter Brings Congress Into the Jalen Hurts Questions
Blunt Rochester, who sits on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee and its Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee, put five questions to Goodell.
They ask whether the NFL has a league-wide protocol for detecting, preventing, and treating deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), what standards govern a player’s clearance when a clot is suspected, what education players, trainers, and coaches receive and what the league does about the risk tied to long flights.
The fifth goes straight at the Eagles: “Will the League conduct a thorough review of the Eagles’ handling of this specific situation, including who cleared Mr. Hurts to play after staying awake overnight, and cleared subsequent air travel on a transatlantic flight back to the U.S. from London?”
League executive vice president Jeff Miller disputed a report that Hurts was awake for more than 30 hours before he played the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to The Associated Press.
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Fans replying to a post from podcaster Tony Farmer turned on Goodell and the handling of Hurts’ care.
Farmer, posting the next morning, didn’t hold back about where the saga now stands: “This story has gone nuclear. No longer just a sports story and for good reason.”
The London trip the senator asked about was the Eagles’ Oct. 11 game against the Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. According to ABC News, Hurts played that game after specialists in London first diagnosed a superficial vein thrombosis in his left calf.
The clot later traveled to his lungs, and on Monday, the Eagles and his agent, Nicole Lynn, said he has DVT and bilateral pulmonary emboli. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni defended the team’s handling of his condition at a news conference that same day.
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Blunt Rochester has worked on blood clot legislation throughout her time in Congress, including the Charles Rochester Blood Clot Prevention and Treatment Act, which is named for her late husband.
Her letter explains why the issue is personal: “My late husband and the love of my life, Charles Rochester, tore his Achilles tendon playing a game of pickup basketball before a business meeting. Blood clots traveled to his heart and lungs and, at the age of 52, he died.”
Fans Press Roger Goodell as the League Stands by Its Protocols
One fan went after the commissioner himself: “Goodell is arrogant and does not like to be questioned. Now things are changing and he could be in trouble.”
Another fan wrote: “Goodell is legit insane.”
Goodell did take questions Wednesday at the news conference that closed the league’s fall meeting in New York. Responding to the NFL Players Association’s call for a full investigation into the Eagles’ handling of Hurts’ blood clots, he said: “We welcome that. That’s part of our processes. That’s fine.”
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Another fan went after the medical decisions themselves: “Malpractice of the highest order and there needs to be a reckoning.”
The league has stood by the care Hurts received.
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, defended the Eagles’ medical staff at a news conference Tuesday, and a day later, Goodell pointed to Sills’ review: “Obviously, there was a medical evaluation, and I think our protocols were incredibly good there. The protocols were followed. Our process is to make sure that’s the case, and our chief medical officer has gone through that, so we’re comfortable that what we’ve seen in the protocols have happened.”
Another fan simply welcomed the scrutiny: “Good, it’s about time!”
One user on X added, “This is the type of [expletive] politicians should be involved with when it comes to sports.”
Blunt Rochester’s letter also asks the league for a timeline if it conducts a review, and she requests a briefing for her office and members of the HELP committee.
Hurts, meanwhile, is being treated with blood thinners and won’t be allowed to take part in any football activities until he is off them. The Eagles, 2-4 and second in the NFC East, host the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.