The league has fined the Atlanta Falcons 75,000 dollars and manager Arthur Smith 25,000 dollars for handling the franchise’s injury report before its Week 7 clash vs. the Bucs in October.
NFL began probing the organization after Bijan Robinson was not listed on the injury report but barely appeared in the Falcons’ 16-13 victory against Tampa Bay. He shared with the media after the clash that he had an illness and headaches.
𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧: #Falcons HC Arthur Smith was fined $75,000 for failing to put Bijan Robinson on the injury report with an illness back in week 7.
Owner Arthur Smith was also fined $25,000 pic.twitter.com/crNPxUs5o6
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) December 22, 2023
Smith admitted today that “it wasn’t some contentious battle” with the NFL and that each side understood the other’s point of view of the episode back in October.
“There’s an inquiry, and in most cases, you must answer with a letter. It wasn’t like a court case, it wasn’t a lot of time spent,” Arthur shared. “Here is how we thought of it. Here was our intent. Nothing was done to try to make a false report, and I understood why they fined us.”