Colin Cowherd encourages NFL to ban injury reports

NFL teams have been required to disclose player injury information since 1947 and Colin Cowherd is ready to see the practice come to an end.

During Cowherd’s Thursday Fox Sports Radio show on FS1, he listened to Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh get testy with reporters over Lamar Jackson’s injury status. And after hearing Harbaugh end his frustration by telling reporters to check the injury report, Cowherd suggested the NFL should just do away with the whole thing.

“I’ve said this ten times in the history of me hosting a radio or TV show. I think the NFL should ban the injury report,” Cowherd said. “I mean, the last thing you need is to tell the other defensive line, ‘Yeah, the left guard’s got a bad knee.’

“Go ask Mark Schlereth, if you knew a defensive tackle had a bad shoulder, you’d go after the shoulder. I think the NFL should ban injury reports. Who cares? Listen, I love gambling on football. You gotta keep the players safe. All these sports have one rule, protect the athlete. That is the number one rule.”

The NFL preaches prioritizing player health and safety, although the authenticity of that priority is often questioned. So, how does forcing teams to divulge information on injuries protect the players? It doesn’t. But it does help protect the integrity of the game.

The injury report exists for gambling. It started as a way of preventing gamblers from paying teams for injury information. Cowherd is right, it’s not in the best interest of the players. But if you do away with the injury report, it creates more inside information that can potentially be misused.

The NFL is all-in on gambling, with team owners even being allowed to own a stake in sportsbooks. It only takes one example of inside information on injuries being misused to spark a scandal and cause panic about the integrity of the league. Which is why the NFL attempts to make injury information public. And it’s also why now might be the worst time to do away with injury reports.