For DeMaurice Smith, the Jalen Hurts saga starts with a simple medical truth: “A blood clot can kill you.” The former NFL Players Association (NFLPA) executive director minced no words on “The Craig Carton Show” about how the Philadelphia Eagles QB ended up playing in London with a clot, and he saved some of his sharpest criticism for the union he once led.

His comments arrive with the NFL standing behind the Eagles’ medical staff and the NFLPA publicly calling for an investigation into Hurts’ care. Hurts, diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and clots in both lungs, is expected to miss the rest of the season.

DeMaurice Smith Reacts to Jalen Hurts’ Blood Clots Controversy

Smith began with the timeline: “The first time I heard the conversation about Jalen Hurts’ blood clot in London, my first thought was, I don’t have all the facts because there’s just no way, right, that a player arrives after an intercontinental flight with a blood clot. Then I know that he played in the game, and then I know that he flew back home. Those four or five facts together are reprehensible. Just reprehensible.”

Smith then turned to his old union’s response: “When I heard that the NFLPA was calling for an investigation, frankly, it made my head explode. I wrote Article 39 of the collective bargaining agreement. It gives the NFLPA the unilateral right to conduct its own investigation. I’m not sure what it means to call for an investigation. I do know what it means to just do one.”

The NFLPA’s statement came the night of Oct. 20. It was a response to comments that day from NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills and to reports that the league would not punish the Eagles.

The statement read: “The NFLPA is not aware of any NFL investigation into the medical care provided to Jalen Hurts. In fact, the league previously informed the union that it did not plan to review the care he received.”

Of the NFLPA, Smith said he “did read this morning that they had decided to do one.” He then pointed back to his own tenure: “When I was in that job, I always treated it as so important that you have to understand that you always have to be on your front foot. If you’re not on your front foot, you’re on your back foot, and they will take advantage of that 100%. And you saw what the league did.”

Earlier, the Eagles said their medical staff and London-based doctors reviewed an Oct. 10 ultrasound that revealed a superficial clot and “concluded that activity and mobility were important and that Jalen could safely play” against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hurts went 21-of-40 for 220 yards with a 62-yard touchdown pass to Darius Cooper the next day in a 19-17 loss, and a follow-up ultrasound back in Philadelphia showed movement in the clot. Head coach Nick Sirianni, who faced questions on Oct. 19 about playing the QB and flying him home, did not go into detail about why Hurts was allowed to play.

Meanwhile, Sills, who said he has worked in sports medicine for 30 years, was blunt in his news conference at the owners’ meetings: “The notion that there are external factors that any of our physicians would put a player in harm’s way; that’s nonsense.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also answered the union’s call for investigation at the owners’ meetings in New York: “We welcome that. That’s part of our processes. That’s fine.”

League officials confirmed they stayed in touch with the Eagles’ medical staff and Cleveland Clinic London during Hurts’ treatment, though the NFL, citing medical privacy, would not get into the details. Hurts can’t take part in football activities while on blood thinners, and the team’s statement on his diagnosis gave no timeline for his return.