Seahawks could lose 2nd-round pick due to nondisclosure of Richard Sherman’s injury

The Seattle Seahawks revealed after the season that Richard Sherman played through a knee injury, but the team’s decision not to disclose that information could end up costing them a second-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters after the season that Sherman played the season with a “significant” injury to his MCL. However, the cornerback never appeared on an injury report for the team.

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

On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the NFL would investigate the Seahawks’ decision to keep Sherman’s injury quiet throughout the year.

“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. Same with Russell [Wilson], he was fine about it. I don’t know how they do that, but they did.”

But even with Sherman not missing a game or practice, the three-time first-team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowl cornerback wasn’t quite on his game. But the issue with the Seahawks not revealing Sherman’s injury is that the league trusts teams to provide “credible, accurate, and specific” information on player injuries in the interest of fairness.

The Seahawks were already docked a fifth-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft for excessive contact in offseason workouts, a violation that the team has been punished for three times in the last five years. But if the Sherman investigation results in the loss of a second-round pick, the Seahawks will likely get the fifth-round pick back.

Seattle is also without a fourth-round pick after trading it away to the New England Patriots during the 2016 NFL draft. Losing a second-round pick would leave the Seahawks with only the No. 26 pick in the first round and a selection late in the third round in the first two days of the 2017 NFL draft.