Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins fined for handling of injury
The Miami Dolphins were fined $30,000 and coach Adam Gase was fined $15,000 for incorrectly listing quarterback Ryan Tannehill as a full participant during a Thursday practice leading up to Miami’s 31-28 overtime win over the Chicago Bears.
Tannehill sat out a few reps of that Thursday’s practice because of soreness he was experiencing in his throwing shoulder, which was caused by a hit he took in Miami’s 27-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals the previous week.
The Dolphins violated the NFL’s injury report policy by not listing Tannehill as a limited participant.
Tannehill’s status was listed as “limited” that Friday, and his status for the game was declared “questionable.” But Miami never downgraded his status leading up to the game because they wanted to see how he threw the football the morning of the game.
The NFL’s investigation centered on why Tannehill was never downgraded to “doubtful” before missing the first of four games he’s been sidelined because of the capsule injury in his right shoulder. The Dolphins were not fined for listing Tannehill as questionable.
“We have been fully cooperative and transparent with the NFL throughout this process. We received the penalties imposed and will have no further comment,” the Dolphins said in a team statement Wednesday evening.
The Dolphins (5-4) plan to rest Tannehill for another two weeks with the goal of having him healthy enough to start the Nov. 25 road game against the Indianapolis Colts.
“I want to use these next two weeks to get healthy, get back into throwing, get sharp and be ready to go,” said Tannehill, who has a 92.9 passer rating while completing 65.9 percent of his passes and throwing for 972 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions this season. “We’ll see what happens.”