According to reports, the NFL “looked into” the San Francisco 49ers’ attempt to obtain an unfair advantage over the New York Jets in Week 1. Given that the league didn’t care that Fred Warner revealed to the public that Dre Greenlaw was suffering from an Achilles injury prior to February’s Super Bowl, the investigation’s findings aren’t all that shocking.
Running back Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers was labeled as questionable to play against the Jets on Monday night due to a calf/achilles ailment on last Saturday’s final injury report. In the end, he was not used, and Jordan Mason, the 49ers’ backup running back, had a fantastic night in the backfield.
Mason revealed after the 49ers’ victory on Monday night that they had informed him he would start the game before Monday, implying that the 49ers were aware McCaffrey wasn’t suspect when they listed him as such on the injury report. Since last week, McCaffrey’s performance seems to have declined, and the 49ers are thinking about placing him on injured reserve.
Numerous individuals in the media and sports betting domain want an investigation into the 49ers for allegedly manipulating the injury report in order to obtain an edge over the Jets’ coaching staff. Sportsbooks were very interested in McCaffrey’s situation because they needed to quickly switch out prop bets before Monday night’s game began.
Of course, other people might also find value in knowing McCaffrey’s injury timeline. McCaffrey’s ailment wasn’t a long-term concern, according to Shanahan, who announced on August 6th that he would miss the preseason. We now know that the injury dates back to Week 17 of the previous season.
If McCaffrey’s injury was a long-term issue, that news would have been of interest to any offensive-skilled player on the 49ers looking for leverage in contract negotiations before the start of the regular season.
No league plans to investigate the San Francisco 49ers on Wednesday
On Wednesday, a representative for the league informed multiple media sites that the 49ers will not be the subject of an NFL investigation for lying about their injuries.
But in an attempt to cover their ass, the league felt compelled to issue a statement during the Friday afternoon news dump. Here is a statement from the league, courtesy of Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:
“We investigated the 49ers’ report on Christian McCaffrey’s playing status for the team’s Monday night matchup with the New York Jets. In this case, we have not discovered any indication that the league’s Injury Report Policy has been broken.
“Looked into” is a benign way of saying investigation. One has a hard time believing the league did their due diligence “looking into” the matter seriously.
The NFL had a lot of people to talk to in two days
This week, Jay Kornegay of Westgate Superbook told Sports Illustrated that a thorough probe would need the league to speak with a large number of people. Information useful in a league inquiry would be available to teammates, trainers, and other 49ers players.
In-depth studies of this kind require time. For this reason, the league punished the Atlanta Falcons on December 22 of last year for failing to list Bijan Robinson’s headache from Week 7 on the injury report, over two months after the game in question.
Although it didn’t seem like the league planned to investigate the 49ers on Wednesday, it did enough research to make a statement during the Friday news dump.
Most fans don’t believe the league’s response, according on the majority of comments on Rapoport’s article on X.
They ought not to.
