NFL investigating Ravens’ injury designation of Lamar Jackson

The Baltimore Ravens will be without Lamar Jackson as they take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

And while a loss would drop the Ravens to 1-6 on the year, their handling of Jackson’s hamstring injury may land them in hot water with the NFL.

The two-time league MVP has been sidelined with that hamstring injury since leaving Baltimore’s Week 4 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, a game the Ravens lost by a final score of 37-20. There was hope that Jackson could return for Sunday’s game against the Bears, particularly when the quarterback was listed as a full participant in Friday’s practice. However, he was then downgraded to out, and the story did not stop changing there.

Baltimore retroactively listed Jackson as a “limited” participant in Friday’s practice because the QB worked on the scout team during that practice session. According to NFL rules, Jackson’s participation on the scout team required the Ravens to list him as “limited” when releasing their Friday practice report. The league’s injury policy reads in pertinent part:

A player who participates in individual drills, but for medical reasons does not 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 starters but for his medical condition, would not alter the player’s proper designation as “Limited Participation.”

However, despite Jackson playing only on the scout team on Friday, the Ravens listed him as a full participant. In a statement released by the team on Saturday, Baltimore declared that “Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire Friday practice. 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.”

The Ravens could be subject to discipline by the NFL for violating the league’s injury report policy, as the NFL reviews all changes to a player’s injury designation.

“The league will look into this,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Saturday. “The league reviews any matter involving a change to a player’s status.”

Tyler Huntley will get the start for the Ravens on Sunday against Chicago. Jackson is expected to return for Baltimore’s game in Week 9, a Thursday night contest against the Miami Dolphins.