The NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons and head coach Arthur Smith for violating the NFL’s injury report policy ahead of Week 7’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Friday that the club was fined $75,000 and Smith $25,000, per sources informed of the situation.
The penalty stems from the Week 7 usage of first-round rookie running back Bijan Robinson, who saw a limited role (11 snaps, one carry).
After the contest, Smith said the running back was under the weather the Saturday before the game. The club failed to add the back to the injury report ahead of the match, leading to questions about why the RB saw so few snaps.
“What I will give the league a lot of credit for is there are a lot of things, when you’re going through the injury report, and clearly we understood their point of view, but they also understood our point of view, too, which is why it wasn’t some contentious battle,” Smith said in a statement on Friday, via the team’s official website. “As you go through that, just full transparency, there’s an inquiry and usually you have to respond with a letter – so, it’s not like it’s some court case that you’re sitting in – it wasn’t a lot of time spent, just: Here’s how we interpreted it, here’s our intent, nothing was done to try to game anything like that. I understood their point of view, so lesson learned there. It was a good conversation, and there are probably a lot of conversations that are going to be had in the spring. That’s kind of where we ended it.
“Again, lesson learned, and we completely understand their position. I think they understood where we were coming from. So, that’s what ended up happening.”