NFL fines Falcons, coach for violating injury report rules with Bijan Robinson

Dec. 22 (UPI) — The NFL issued fines of $75,000 to the Atlanta Falcons and $25,000 to coach Arthur Smith for violating the league injury report policy in Week 7, a league source told UPI on Friday.

The fine came as a result of the Falcons’ failure to list running back Bijan Robinson on the injury report for that week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Robinson, who played at least 61% of the Falcons’ snaps in his first six games, played just 17% in the win over the Buccaneers.

Smith told reporters at his postgame news conference that Robinson was dealing with an unspecified illness and that he experienced headache symptoms the night before the game.

“As we got through warmups, early on, he just wasn’t feeling like himself,” Smith told reporters Oct. 22. “He played. But we weren’t going to overdo it. We were just being cautious.”

Smith said the Falcons would monitor Robinson in the days after the game. Robinson also was not listed on the injury report in Week 8. He played 74% of the Falcons’ snaps that week in a loss to the Tennessee Titans.