The Pittsburgh Steelers parted ways with veteran guard David DeCastro last week. In doing so, they listed his termination with the non-football injury tag. DeCastro will reportedly now need a third ankle surgery in the coming weeks, on the heels of him having a second one prior to last season. While DeCastro’s ankle reportedly bothered him most of last season, he was never listed on the team’s injury report with that particular body part alignment. Because of that, many are now wondering if the Steelers violated injury report rules last season.
On Wednesday, longtime NFL insider John Clayton was asked to give his thoughts on the Steelers not listing DeCastro on the team’s injury report last season with an ankle issue, and if he thinks the team will face any sort of punishment from the NFL because of that.
“They could be under a little bit of investigation for that,” Clayton said during his interview on 93.7 The Fan.
So, what would all that mean?
“What it would mean is they get a fine, I mean, if they think it’s serious,” Clayton said. “They could take away a draft choice, they could take it that severe. But usually, because I remember Richard Sherman had a problem here in Seattle, but he didn’t miss any games and they didn’t put him on the injury report. But in the end, it’s like, okay, so they didn’t do any kind of fine or anything else. But again, it’s like we’ve seen this happen a couple of times where it’s like if you have a serious [injury.] Even like Tom Brady, for example, he had some knee issues, and his name didn’t go on the injury report in New England for a couple of years. So, it’s like, yeah, you can sometimes get away with it, but it’s always best to put everything out there.
DeCastro did miss three games last season, with two coming in the first two weeks. He was listed on the Steelers’ injury report both of those weeks with a knee ailment. He also missed the Steelers’ Week 6 game and was on the injury report that week with an abdomen injury.
So, will the Steelers face any sort of punishment from the NFL based on what is known right now with DeCastro and the ankle issue he had last season? I suppose it’s possible. If the Steelers do face any sort of punishment, I doubt it would include them losing a draft pick. It might just wind up being a fine and a slap on the wrist, or ankle.
