Seahawks could face sanction over Sherman injury
The Seattle Seahawks' failure to disclose a knee injury to defensive star Richard Sherman could cost the NFL club a draft pick, US media reported Thursday.
ESPN cited league sources in reporting the Seahawks could lose a second round selection in the June draft.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll revealed in an ESPN radio interview on Monday that Sherman was troubled by a left knee ligament injury in the second half of the season.
"Honestly, I didn't realize we hadn't revealed it," Carroll said. "I don't even remember what game it was, it was somewhere in the middle (of the season)."
Carroll said Sherman's injury was similar to the one quarterback Russell Wilson sustained in the third week of the season.
Wilson was included on the team's injury reports into December, while Sherman was listed as "limited" or "did not participate" on some practice reports without mention of an injury.
That contravenes league policy, which calls for practice reports to provide "clubs and the public an accurate description of a player's injury status" and specifies that "all players who have significant or noteworthy injuries must be listed on the practice report".
"I'm feeling like I screwed that up with not telling you that because that happened, but he was OK," Carroll said. "He never missed anything, which is probably why."
Seattle already has been docked a fifth-round selection in this year's draft for a repeat violation of rules governing offseason workouts.