The NFL is investigating why the Cincinnati Bengals did not list quarterback Joe Burrow on their injury report this week over the wrist ailment that ultimately ruled him out of Thursday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, a league official told ESPN on Friday morning.
The Bengals had posted a video on X on Wednesday night of Burrow getting off the team bus wearing what appeared to be a soft cast on his right hand. They later deleted the post.
Burrow appeared to be hampered by the injury against the Ravens before leaving the game in the second quarter and being ruled out shortly after halftime.
Coach Zac Taylor said after the 34-20 Bengals loss that preliminary evaluations showed that Burrow had suffered a sprained right wrist. Burrow was seen in the locker room wearing a multilayered wrap.
Taylor said Burrow fell on the wrist earlier in the game before he appeared to be in serious pain after throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Joe Mixon on what was Burrow’s final play.
The coach said he was not aware of Burrow dealing with any wrist issue before the game.
“That was the first I saw anything about it,” Taylor said, adding that he “absolutely” felt good about Burrow heading into the contest.
The NFL routinely looks into matters of compliance with its injury report policy. The league takes injury report violations seriously, with punishments including team fines or potentially a lost draft pick. The NFL warned teams at the spring owners meetings that they are required to list all injuries.
In 2019, the NFL fined the Pittsburgh Steelers $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the injury report policy by not accurately listing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the practice report before the team’s Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ben Baby contributed to this report.