Why the NFL will investigate the Seahawks for Richard Sherman’s unreported knee injury

The NFL will launch an investigation into the MCL injury Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman played through this season, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll described the injury as “significant,” but Sherman only appeared on Seattle’s injury report once in 2016 with an injury designation, and it wasn’t for a knee injury.

“I’m feeling like I screwed that up with not telling you that,” Carroll said Monday. “He was okay, so I don’t know, he never missed anything I guess is probably why (it wasn’t reported).”

The NFL rules on reporting injuries are clear and specific, and Sherman did miss practice time, though it was never connected to an MCL injury.

The league is investigating because it has clearly defined rules establishing how teams must report injury information on a weekly basis. The purpose of these rules is to keep things fair by ensuring that teams provide “credible, accurate, and specific” information on player injuries.

Sherman appeared on Seattle’s injury report just once with an injury designation this season. That came in Week 12, and Sherman’s injury was identified as an ankle. Sherman did not participate in practice on Wednesday of that week, and returned to full participation Thursday and Friday.

There was no mention of Sherman on the team’s injury report through Week 7 of the regular season. After that point, Sherman appeared on the injury report each week with the exception of Week 15. In every week except for the ankle injury in Week 12, Sherman was held out of practice one day with a non-injury related designation.

Carroll said that, like Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett, Sherman fought through the injury and didn’t miss any practice or playing time.

“They all had it during the course of the season and they just made it through it,” Carroll said. “They never complained, they didn’t want to miss a practice and they basically didn’t miss anything but they were legit, it was legit injury, it showed up and the whole thing.”

What raises questions, though, is that Sherman did consistently miss practice time from Week 8 onward. Except for Week 15, Sherman was held out of one practice each week, mostly without specifying any injury.

The league, of course, does allow for players to appear on the injury report with a non-injury designation. According to the current injury report policy, this designation only “applies to situations in which a player is withheld from his normal repetitions for reasons other than injury.”

The fact that Carroll called Sherman’s MCL injury “significant” on Monday, coupled with the record of Sherman consistently being held out of practice with a non-injury related designation, was undoubtedly going to catch the NFL’s attention.

Carroll said he was unaware the injury hadn’t been reported.

“I didn’t realize that we hadn’t even revealed it,” Carroll said. “I don’t even remember what game it was, it was somewhere in the middle, he was fine about it, he didn’t miss anything.”

There is a precedent for the NFL fining teams, as well as coaches and general managers individually, for failing to accurately report injury information. In 2009, the league fined the Jets $75,000 and then-general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Eric Mangini each $25,000 for not disclosing an arm injury Brett Favre played through during the season.

The Seahawks have been penalized a full week of OTAs and a fifth-round draft pick in 2017 for violating the NFL’s offseason workout rules. The NFL has said that “additional discipline can be considered if there are multiple violations” of different league policies, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Sherman played in all 16 of Seattle’s regular season games as well as the Wild Card win over the Detroit Lions and the Divisional loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He recorded 38 tackles and four interceptions this season.