Bengals being investigated by NFL for injury report compliance

As quarterback Joe Burrow left the field on Thursday after suffering a right wrist injury and would not return, many called into question the Cincinnati Bengals for their NFL injury report compliance. The reason being: video and photo evidence emerged showing Burrow wearing a brace or sleeve on his wrist when exiting the team bus in Baltimore.

There also was a photo of Burrow exiting the team plane in which he had some sort of sleeve/brace/covering on his right wrist exiting the team plane.

In the post-game press conference, Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor was asked if Burrow hurt his wrist prior to Thursday’s game.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Taylor said.

According to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley and Ben Baby, the NFL is pretty routine in these investigations.

“The NFL routinely looks into matters of compliance with its injury report policy,” Hensley wrote. “The league takes injury report violations seriously, with punishments including team fines or potentially a lost draft pick. The NFL warned teams at the spring owners meetings that they are required to list all injuries. In 2019, the NFL fined the Pittsburgh Steelers $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the injury report policy by not accurately listing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the practice report prior to the team’s Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks.”

Stating the obvious here, but it’s hard to imagine Burrow wearing sleeves/braces or something on his right wrist without the coaching staff and/or higher-ups knowledge. Obviously, that’s what the investigation is for, but the evidence from the outside looking in appears rather damning.