After the news came out that the Pittsburgh Steelers knew about Le’Veon Bell’s groin injury but didn’t report it, we knew the NFL would be investigating.
And now we have a report that this is indeed the next course of action.
NFL now looking into whether the Steelers failed to list RB Le'Veon Bell properly on injury report last week, per league official.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 27, 2017
Bell surprised us when, after he missed most of the AFC Championship Game, he divulged that he’d been dealing with his groin injury for weeks.
That, in and of itself was fishy, especially since he was never listed on the injury report. However, since nobody on Pittsburgh’s coaching staff commented on the injury, it seemed unlikely the NFL could really make anything out of it.
Then head coach Mike Tomlin told the media in his end-of-season presser that he knew of the injury but didn’t think it needed to be on the injury report (more on that here). At that point, an NFL investigation seemed inevitable, and now it’s apparently on Roger Goodell’s to-do list.
The Seattle Seahawks could reportedly lose a draft pick for failing to disclose Richard Sherman’s knee injury — something Sherman doesn’t believe should happen. If they lose a pick, then so should the Steelers and any other team that skirts the rules when it comes to reporting injuries.