The Baltimore Ravens got caught in a bit of a scandal this week when they listed quarterback Lamar Jackson as a full participant in practice, only to rule him out of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, revealing that he never actually practiced with the first team this week. As a result, it sounds like the team could be facing some severe punishment.
The NFL requires every team to accurately report a player’s injury status throughout the week. Clearly, Jackson’s status was not correctly reported. In a statement on Saturday, the team revealed that while Jackson did fully participate during practice, he didn’t actually take any reps with the starters due to his injury, and was instead limited to the scout team.
“Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire Friday practice,” the statement read. “Upon further evaluation today and after conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn’t take any starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation.”
This move from the Ravens was a clear violation of the league’s injury reporting policy, which actually has specific language forbidding such a move, stating that a player assigned to the scout team for medical reasons should not be listed as a full participant in practice.
“A player who participates in individual drills, but for medical reasons doesn’t take his normal repetitions during the team portion of practice and is assigned to the scout team should be listed as ‘limited participation.’ Participation on the scout team, no matter how extensive, by a player whose normal repetitions would be with the starter but for his medical condition, would not alter the player’s proper designation as ‘limited participation,’” the policy reads.
The NFL has already confirmed that [it is investigating the incident](https://thecomeback.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens-lamar-jackson-investigation.html), and given that it occurred during the same week that the FBI made arrests in an NBA betting scandal, one NFL expert seems to think the Ravens could face rather severe sanctions.
Mike Florio, a former lawyer and the founder of Pro Football Talk, believes that the NFL could look to make an example out of the Ravens with some serious punishment.
“John Harbaugh, the coach of the team, told reporters after the game it was an honest mistake, but that still sets the Ravens up for some sort of a sanction,” Florio [told Maria Taylor](https://amp.awfulannouncing.com/nfl/mike-florio-ravens-severe-punishment-lamar-jackson-status-change.html) on NBC’s Football Night in America. “The question is, when the league looks into this, will they determine there was some an effort to conceal his true status by saying he fully participated? Maybe the Bears would think he’s going to play. If they find something like that, the punishment could be worse.
“For now, the Ravens are looking at fines. They’re looking at the potential loss of draft picks. And even suspensions are on the table based upon what the NFL may find out. A source told me today the NFL understands, given what happened in the NBA, it’s very bad optics. As the source said, it’s an opportunity for the league to make a very strong statement on a very important topic and look for all other teams to go back and look at their procedures and make sure they get it right going forward.”
We’ll have to see what the NFL ultimatley decides to do.