As questions about their handling of Lamar Jackson’s injury status for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears swirl, the Baltimore Ravens put out a statement Saturday afternoon that affirmed that the quarterback participated fully in Friday’s practice.
Jackson was listed as a full participant in practice on the game’s final injury report Friday, and he was designated as questionable for Sunday’s game at M&T Bank Stadium. However, the Ravens downgraded the quarterback to out Saturday afternoon and clarified his practice participation report, saying he was limited Friday.
They provided an explanation for the move later Saturday, saying in a statement that “Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire Friday practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bears. Upon further evaluation today and after conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn’t take starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation.”
Labeling a starting player as a full participant in practice when he didn’t take the normal allotment of repetitions with the first team because he’s either injured or returning from an injury is considered a violation of the injury report.
Per NFL injury report rules, “A player who participates in individual drills, but for medical reasons does not take his normal repetitions during the team portion of practice and is assigned to the scout team should be listed as ‘Limited Participation.’ Participation on the scout team, no matter how extensive, by a player whose normal repetitions would be with the starters but for his medical condition, would not alter the player’s proper designation as ‘Limited Participation.’”
The Ravens’ handling of Jackson’s status will be subject to a league review. Per a league spokesperson, “The league reviews any matter involving a change to a player’s status.”
Baltimore’s downgrading of Jackson to a limited participant in Saturday’s practice came less than two hours after the NFL Network reported that Jackson ran the Ravens’ scout team in Friday’s practice and wasn’t certain to play against the Bears in a game that the Ravens need to win to revive their sagging playoff hopes.
News that Jackson would not play caused a major change in the game’s betting line. The Ravens went from almost a touchdown favorite to a 2-point favorite. Sports gambling has been in the news all week, with the NBA mired in a major gambling scandal.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh announced Friday that if Jackson couldn’t play, Tyler Huntley would start for the Ravens. This is the third straight game that Jackson will miss. The Ravens are 0-2 this year without him and have scored just 13 total points. They are 4-12 without him since he became their starting quarterback.
At 1-5, the Ravens have matched their worst start in franchise history.
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