The NFL recently investigated whether the San Francisco 49ers failed to properly report running back Christian McCaffrey’s calf injury ahead of their Monday Night Football showdown with the New York Jets.
Niners running back Jordan Mason, who filled in admirably for the inactive McCaffrey, said postgame that the team has known since Friday that McCaffrey wasn’t going to start. CMC reportedly suffered a setback during Friday’s practice, yet it wasn’t reported.
The NFL ultimately determined that the 49ers didn’t violate any rules, issuing a statement that said they “found no evidence of a violation of the league’s injury report policy in this matter.” Let’s break down the NFL’s injury report policy, possible punishments, and more.
What Is the Personnel (Injury) Report Policy?
There are three sections to the policy: practice reports, game status reports, and in-game injury reports. The league policy states: “The information must be credible, accurate, timely, and specific within the guidelines of the policy, which is of paramount importance in maintaining the integrity of the game.”
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Teams are required to be as specific as possible with the reporting of what body part is injured. Teams are not allowed to use general terms like “upper body.” They need to be specific, like “wrist” or “ankle,” instead of “leg” or “arm” when reporting an injury. Teams need to indicate “left” or “right” if the injury is to the arm or hand of a quarterback or to the leg or foot of a kicker or punter.
Practice reports must list any player with a reportable injury and their level of participation in practice, even if a player takes all reps during the week. A reportable injury is considered any injury that causes a player to miss a game, prevents them from finishing a game, or prevents them from completing their normal practice workload.
There are three levels of player participation in the practice report: Did Not Participate, Limited Participation, and Full Participation. The league defines limited participation as anything less than 100 percent of a player’s normal repetitions.
Teams are required to report three times during the week leading up to the game. For a Sunday game, teams need to send the report out on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with nothing required the day before the game. Teams playing on Thursdays do have to submit a report on participation on Wednesdays.
The game-status report is also known to most fans as the injury report. This is the report that uses the terms questionable, doubtful, and out for players. The league requires teams to release the report by 4:00 p.m. ET two days before a game, with the exception being Thursday injury reports being announced on Wednesday afternoons.
The league requires teams to release information as soon as possible about any injuries that happen during the game. The team needs to be specific about where the player is injured and what his status is to return to the game.
What Happens if Teams Don’t Follow the Policy?
If a team fails to properly report a player’s injury, the league may fine the organization. If severe enough, the league also has the option of suspending players or making the team forfeit draft picks.
In 2019, the NFL fined the Pittsburgh Steelers $75,000 and head coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for not accurately listing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on a practice report.
Roethlisberger’s reason for not practicing on Wednesday leading up to a game was rest and not related to an injury. Roethlisberger practiced on Thursday and Friday and did not receive an official designation on the final injury report.
Roethlisberger left the game before halftime with a non-contact elbow injury that required season-ending surgery. The NFL investigated because, after he was injured, some of his teammates told reporters that they heard of a possible elbow injury before the game.