According to a report, the NFL fined Falcons and Arthur Smith for failing to submit an injury report for Bijan Robinson in Week 7.
According to NFL Media, the NFL penalized the Atlanta Falcons and head coach Arthur Smith for breaking the rules of injury reports. Due to what the NFL determined to be a faulty injury report process leading up to their Week 7 showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the organization has been deducted $75,000 and Smith has been fined $25,000.
This specifically had to do with how the team handled rookie running back Bijan Robinson during that particular week. Despite playing only six snaps in the game and not touching the ball for the whole first half, the first-round pick was not on Atlanta’s injury report for the whole week. When questioned at halftime about Robinson’s absence from the game, Smith replied that he was “just not feeling all that great.”
Robinson played only 17% of the offensive snaps and finished with one carry for three yards.
Following the game, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports NFL Lead Insider said that the league was investigating Robinson’s exclusion from the injury report. As per league regulations, teams are expected to disclose all ailments, including those that develop the night before a game. Following that game, Robinson claimed to have started “feeling weird” and to have headaches.
After investigating into the matter, it seems the NFL concluded that the Falcons should have included Robinson to the injury report since they knew about his health issues earlier. The head coach and the team are now paying a heavy price for it.
