NFL Injury Report Controversy Deepens: What the Ravens Are Desperately Trying to Hide

Football fans, you know how the season never quits—week after week, we’re bombarded with dazzling plays and fresh controversies, barely letting one settle before the next one erupts. But this time, there’s a sticky situation that refuses to fade into the background: the Baltimore Ravens found themselves in hot water after blatantly bending the injury report rules. They listed their star quarterback, Lamar Jackson, as a full participant in practice last Friday, when in fact, he should have been marked “limited.” This is no small oversight. Word from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport is the league’s digging deep, with heavy fines and even draft pick penalties on the table. The question lingering in the air—was this a careless slip or a deliberate gambit to mislead the Bears about who’d be under center? Coach John Harbaugh claims innocence, chalking it up to an “honest mistake,” but savvy insiders smell a rat. Could the Ravens be playing a high-stakes game, willing to risk punishment to snag an edge? The clock is ticking, and every move the NFL makes on this could send shockwaves beyond just Baltimore. Hang on tight—this saga is far from over. LEARN MORE

Football season brings an endless stream of bright, shiny objects, with the next game (and the next game and the next game) naturally taking the steam out of any and all controversies.

One very important controversy continues to linger for the Ravens, who committed a rare — and blatant — violation of the injury report policy by listing quarterback Lamar Jackson as a “full” participant in last Friday’s practice when the rule clearly required him to be listed as “limited.”

Last night, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the NFL’s review of the situation is “ongoing,” confirming that the available punishment includes “heavy fines” and the potential loss of draft picks.

The violation was obvious; it would be highly unlikely for the Ravens to avoid any sanction for sending the unmistakable message that Jackson was preparing to play on Sunday against the Bears, when the truth was that Tyler Huntley was getting the start.

The biggest question is whether the league will view the violation as “willful.” The policy states that, if the Ravens made a “calculated decision to risk the possible penalties” for violating the policy by regarding them as “an acceptable cost of attempting to gain an unfair competitive advantage,” the discipline will be enhanced.

Despite coach John Harbaugh’s insistence that it was an “honest mistake” (he also said he doesn’t “know those particular rules,” which makes it hard to know whether it was an “honest mistake”), those who understand how the NFL works realized immediately what the Ravens were trying to do. They wanted the Bears to think Jackson would be starting the game, even though the Ravens knew it would be Huntley.

It wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t an accident. And if the league investigates the situation with only a fraction of the zeal that was unleashed on the Patriots regarding the inflation of footballs after a 2014 playoff game, the NFL will likely find a smoking-gun text message or two that proves, conclusively, that the Ravens were sufficiently desperate for a win to throw caution to the wind as to the cost of doing business that would come from an eventual parking-ticket fine for taking liberties with the rules.

Then again, what other proof is needed? The circumstances speak for themselves. And the timing couldn’t have been worse.

So what will the NFL do? Will they make an example out of the Ravens? Will they make an excuse for the Ravens? Even as more and more games roll down the assembly line, with more and more stories and controversies and things to distract us happening, it’s important to monitor how the league handles this one.