The Buccaneers might have violated the injury-reporting rules by failing to downgrade linebacker Devin White from questionable to out for Sunday’s game against the Packers. Regardless, the NFL will be looking into the situation.
“We will review the matter with the club,” chief NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT via email on Wednesday.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles raised eyebrows on Monday by telling reporters that White made it clear on Friday or Saturday that he couldn’t play, due to a foot injury. The failure to downgrade White to out becomes a potential violation of the injury-reporting rules.
Bowles tried to clean up the mess on Wednesday by creating the impression that no decisions about White were made until it was time to list inactive players for Sunday.
If the Bucs knew all along that White was going to play, why did he travel to Green Bay? Players routinely are left behind when the team travels, resulting in the player being downgraded to out. The fact that White went to Green Bay kept the door open for White to play.
Regardless, Bowles said what he said on Monday. Whatever he said on Wednesday might not have been enough to clean things up.