The Lions could end up catching flak from Receiver.
As noted recently, the Receiver series reveals that Amon-Ra St. Brown suffered an oblique injury in Week 3 against the Falcons. Although he characterized the pain while running as eight or nine on a scale of one to 10, he did not appear on the injury report in advance of a Week 4 Thursday night game at Green Bay.
With an over-under receiving yardage total of 72.5, anyone who knew the truth could have bet the under and won, since he had only 56 yards. Anyone who didn’t know the truth might have determined the 72.5 to be tempting for the over.
Regardless, St. Brown was injured — and the Lions didn’t disclose it.
In response to an email from PFT, the NFL declined comment on the matter. That could mean the NFL has opted to say nothing while monitoring whether the story becomes a thing. If it does, the NFL might have to say at some point that it is reviewing the matter.
Presumably, the league is reviewing the matter. If it isn’t, it should be. This is a prime example of how injury-report gamesmanship creates inside information that can easily be misappropriated by those looking to make a quick and easy buck.
Last week was the anniversary of the league adopting injury-reporting requirements in 1947. The goal was to eliminate inside information for gambling purposes. Seventy-four years later, it’s still a very real dynamic.