Richard Sherman calls out NFL hypocrisy over injury reports and gambling

The National Football League requires teams to submit three practice participation reports and a final injury report for each of their 16 regular season games. There is a notion that this is for player health and safety, but in reality, it has long been viewed as primarily beneficial to NFL gamblers. Knowing if a player is practicing or not, and how likely he is to play in a given week can be critical for setting odds and putting gamblers on a level playing field of knowledge.

The NFL has long pushed back against gambling. Not a year goes by where we don’t hear about the dangers of gambling, and the league is even party to a lawsuit fighting New Jersey’s attempt to add sports gambling. Even as the Oakland Raiders prepare for a move to Las Vegas, the league has long pretended to have a concern with something that has been critical to its growth.

On Wednesday, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman offered pointed comments about the NFL’s hypocrisy when it comes to the injury report and gambling:

“I guess from what I understand the rules is for the gamblers, for Vegas, to make sure the odds and everything are what they are supposed to be, which is apparently what the league is concerned about when talking about injuries and things like that,” Sherman said. “So maybe somebody should look into that, because I thought we weren’t a gambling league and we were against all those things. But our injury report is specifically to make sure the gamblers get their odds right.”

Someone followed up by pointing out that fantasy football likely plays a role as well. Sherman was all about that:

“Fantasy football, oh my God,” he said. “They are almost as bad as the gamblers.”

Sherman was a DNP in two practices for Week 2, and after a limited Friday was listed as questionable against the San Francisco 49ers. He had been questionable the week before, but in both weeks played every snap. There was little doubt he was going to play, but the NFL requires every little injury to be included.

The NFL offered a response to Sherman’s statement:

“The decades-old policy is in place to ensure that all clubs provide accurate and timely information to other clubs, the public, and media about every player’s availability. It is designed for competitive fairness purposes and curtails the potential for someone to attempt to gain and exploit inside information. Without such a policy, you could envision a potential scenario in which a teammate or team personnel could be approached by a third party to sell inside information about a player’s undisclosed injury that could sideline or inhibit his performance. The policy, which is closely monitored by the league, provides a transparent look at player availability.”

The critical line is the one detailing a potential third party buying information about the injury. If your first thought was that the third party might be a gambler or a bookie, you are indeed correct. The NFL has long railed against gambling, even as it sells sponsorships to casinos, conducts training camp at resorts with casinos, and is now set to move a franchise to Las Vegas in the coming years.

Gambling and fantasy football are arguably the two biggest reasons for the NFL’s current level of popularity. While there is a certain amount of skill involved in regular fantasy football, chance plays a significant role — just ask every David Johnson and Greg Olsen fantasy owner.

And then of course, there’s daily fantasy football (DFS). Aside from the skill needed to figure out the appropriate algorithm to get your hundreds of lineups submitted, there is extensive chance in selecting players for a single day’s worth of production. The league been plenty comfortable getting in bed with fantasy football, and DFS has more recently cashed in plenty with the league.

The NFL has long attempted to pick and choose where to use its righteous indignation when it comes to gambling. It’ll happily cash in as the league’s popularity grows and yet deny the very reasons for said growth. It is simply another example of the NFL’s extensive hypocrisy.