NFL to investigate Bengals for injury report compliance

The NFL is investigating why the Cincinnati Bengals did not list quarterback Joe Burrow on their injury report this week due to a wrist ailment that ultimately ruled him out of Thursday night’s loss against the Baltimore Ravens, a league official told ESPN Friday morning.

The Bengals had posted a video on X Wednesday night of Burrow getting off the team bus wearing what appeared to be a soft cast on his right hand before later deleting the post.

Burrow appeared bothered 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 game, a 34-20 Bengals loss, that preliminary evaluations showed Burrow suffered a sprained right wrist. Burrow was seen in the locker room wearing a multi-layered scarf.

Taylor said Burrow fell on his wrist earlier in the game before appearing to be in serious pain after throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Joe Mixon on what was Burrow’s final play of the game.

The coach said he was not aware that Burrow had a wrist issue before the game.

“That was the first time I’d seen anything about it,” Taylor said, adding that he “absolutely” felt good about Burrow preparing for the competition.

The NFL regularly reviews compliance issues with its injury reporting policy. The league takes injury report violations seriously, with penalties including team fines or potentially a lost draft pick. The NFL warned teams during spring owners’ meetings that they were required to catalog all injuries.

In 2019, the NFL fined the Pittsburgh Steelers $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the injury reporting policy by failing to accurately list quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the practice report ahead of the team’s Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ben Baby contributed to this report.