As if football coaches were not already lacking in details about injuries to their players, the NFL is asking them to stop commenting at length about players with concussions.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent has sent a memo to all coaches and general managers to “refrain from making public comments regarding the condition of a concussed player or speculating as to when he may return to practice and play once in the concussion protocol.” The memo simply asks coaches to say a player is in the concussion protocol and that the player will be monitored accordingly.
It comes off a bit secretive of the NFL, a league embattled with trying to improve its public image regarding head injuries. Some may suggest this is a shady procedure for the NFL to hide so much information. As you might imagine, news of this directive has not exactly been received well by some on Twitter…
https://twitter.com/brett8055/status/797240838501834752
The memo may be more to protect the privacy of the players when dealing with concussions. And if that is the case, that is not a horrible decision from the NFL, even if it comes off feeling a bit secretive from a league that has been challenged with its stance on head injuries over the years. If nothing else, it avoids any confusion about the status of a player with a concussion from being shared, which can make for uncomfortable situations.