Things are going well for the Buccaneers right now. Things aren't going well for Buccaneers linebacker Devin White.
White was officially questionable for Sunday's game in Green Bay. He didn't play. He had not been downgraded to out after Friday's designation took effect.
With the statement he made on Monday, coach Todd Bowles might have walked right into an injury reporting problem.
“Devin told me on Friday that he couldn’t play, or on Saturday or Friday that he couldn’t play,” Bowles said Monday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “So KJ [Britt] started.”
Given reports that White's absence was not related to injury but rather the fact that he would not be in the starting lineup, Bowles was pressured into the decision not to demote White to out.
“There was no need to communicate because there was nothing to communicate,” Bowles said. “He trained on Friday. He trained on Thursday. And he said he couldn't go Saturday morning. This is the end.”
This is actually just the beginning. As soon as the team knows that a player will not play due to injury, it is obliged to immediately inform the league and the other team of the development.
This is just the latest example of teams playing fast and loose with injury reporting rules. Until the league does something about it, it will continue. At some point, teams will become more and more bold.
In this case, it's possible that the Bucs are using the injury excuse as a cover for leaving White. The problem is that failing to demote White could put her in trouble with the league.