Jalen Hurts, player safety and the NFL’s ethical tipping point

PHILADELPHIA — On Monday, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was missing in action in a 38-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. This was the fifth consecutive loss for Philadelphia, but what the team and the league have lost may be far more significant:

Credibility and trust.

For Philadelphia, the curious high point of Monday evening’s NFL game was the induction of team owner Jeffrey Lurie into the Eagles Hall of Fame. Lurie, who purchased the franchise in 1994, is generally regarded as one of the more enlightened NFL team owners.

But his induction seemed ill-timed considering the mystery that continues to swirl around the blood clots that have Hurts out for the season.

As of Monday night’s game, there had not been a statement from Eagles ownership or medical staff about the series of medical decisions earlier this month that appeared to put Hurts’s health at risk. And now the Eagles are engulfed in a nightmare of a season highlighted by Hurts’s absence.

Hurts traveled to London for the team’s game on Oct. 11 against Jacksonville and was cleared to play. The game ended disastrously for the Eagles, who blew a late lead when their special teams allowed a kickoff return that set up Jacksonville’s walk-off field goal to win.

That loss began a spiral that deepened on Monday when Philadelphia lost its fifth consecutive game to the Cowboys.

Hurts was ruled out for the season on Oct. 19 after tests revealed that a superficial blood clot in his left calf had spread to his lungs. Eagles fans are getting a glimpse of what life could be without Hurts, who has led the franchise to two Super Bowls, winning one.

But all of this goes beyond wins and losses. Hurts may be a casualty of the NFL’s unchecked ambition to make money.

The NFL and the National Football League Players Association have agreed to collaborate on an investigation. This in and of itself is a potential conflict of interest and a test of whether the NFLPA is truly independent and operating in the best interest of players.

The expanded international menu of games puts the NFL at odds with its stated concerns for player welfare. This season, the NFL is sponsoring a record nine regular-season games outside the United States — spanning seven cities across four continents.

For the league, these international trips mean new markets, new audiences and new revenue. For players, the trips represent another set of demands on bodies already compromised by the rigors of a violent sport. The long flights and the altered routines mean less time to recover.

But everyone is making money hand over fist: team owners, players, and partners. Even those of us who write about and broadcast league activities have unending source material. Yet, sometimes the hypocrisy slaps you in a way you can’t ignore.

New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo called out the NFL last Sunday after he was penalized for unnecessary roughness because he lowered his helmet during a run. This is a rarely, if ever, called penalty on offensive players.

Skattebo addressed the controversial call after Sunday’s overtime victory over Houston when he expressed frustration with what he viewed as inconsistent treatment from the league.

“The NFL loves to post me when I do stuff like that, but then also wants to take stuff from me,” Skattebo said. “I’m going to run the ball like I want to run the ball.”

Skattebo was humorously defiant as he delivered a message about the possibility of future penalties and fines.

“If I’m going to continue to get flags for it or fined for it, guess I’m going to play for free,” he said.

Skattebo will no doubt receive a message from the league to tone it down. The NFL loves his recklessness, but likely not his insight.

Meanwhile, through all of this, the NFL insists it has everything under control: It cares about player safety, international schedules are carefully planned, and gambling partnerships are responsibly regulated.

But at a time when guardrails that get in the way of making money are being removed, it’s reasonable to ask the NFL if its guardrails are strong enough to contain its ever-expanding commercial interests.

Since being exposed two decades ago for mishandling concussions, the NFL has framed itself as a paragon of player safety — all while deepening ties with a gambling industry that profits off on-field performance.

The league pats itself on the back for establishing safety guardrails even as it sends players around the world to play regular-season games.

I’m not naïve. The NFL is built on violence. Violence is the NFL’s most unique and attractive selling point. Players and coaches routinely—and proudly—talk about football being a 100% injury game. We’ve all become anesthetized to the violence and the reality that, on every other play, someone is slow getting up or carted off the field.

The league dodged a bullet three seasons ago when Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game. We accept the violence, write about it, and write around it.

But there’s something troubling about the Hurts situation, even as we move on to Week 8. You have a 28-year-old star quarterback, the face of the franchise, one of the faces of the league who didn’t tear up a knee or sprain an ankle or dislocate a shoulder. The organization may have misjudged a life-threatening illness, and its reaction to the potential misjudgment comes off as a coverup.

I am not suggesting that the trip to London and back caused or aggravated Hurts’s blood clots. We don’t know. What I am suggesting is that the National Football League once again is creeping toward an ethical tipping point.

The league is a unique industry that runs on the blood, sweat, broken bones and torn ligaments of young men who willingly lease their bodies in pursuit of fame, fortune and a hefty payday. In pursuit of new markets and money streams, the NFL seems to be willing to cross every line.

It’s up to owners like Lurie to prove their Hall-of-Fame mettle by reining in this monster before somebody gets hurt. We may have already passed that point.