Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will play on Sunday against the Bills, despite a fracture in his left wrist.
Make that fractures.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Rodgers has at least three fractures in his non-throwing wrist, suffered two weeks ago against the Bengals. None, per the report, are displaced. As reported on NBC’s Football Night in America at the time, Rodgers wanted to keep playing during the game in which it happened. He wanted to play last week. Finally, he’s getting his wish today.
The easy talking point is that teammates are impressed that a football player wants to play football despite having a football injury. The more subtle observation is that the situation underscores the inside-information problem in pro sports.
The NFL mandates bare-bones injury reporting, with no requirement to disclose whether bones are broken. Some clutched their pearls recently when Chargers running back Omarion Hampton disclosed that his ankle injury included a fracture. But the Chargers said what the rules required them to say. He had an ankle injury, and he was placed on injured reserve with it.
The Steelers also complied with the rules. The question is whether the current rules provide sufficient transparency. People are making wagering decisions with sportsbooks that sponsor the NFL (and in which NFL owners may hold equity positions of up to five percent) based on the information, or lack thereof, that the teams disclose. Why not let the bettors have all of it?
It’s one thing to say “wrist.” It’s another to say “wrist fracture.” It’s quite another to say “at least three wrist fractures.”
This doesn’t mean teams should be required to post X-rays or MRI scans on social media. But there’s a balance to strike, in order to limit inside information while protecting player privacy and not putting a bull’s-eye on the injured body part. The process should start with the teams being required to do more than list the body part that is injured. They also should be required to provide the full description of the injury.
Anything less than that creates inside information as to what the injury truly is. Which sets the stage for the kind of issues with which the NBA is currently dealing. Issues that can directly undermine the integrity of the wagering process. Which, given the manner in which the NFL profits from the wagering process, also impacts the integrity of the game.
