COTY Candidate Adam Gase Gets a Slap on the Wrist for Lying on the Injury Report. Again.

Source – The Miami Dolphins and coach Adam Gase have been fined for their handling of Ryan Tannehill’s injury.

The NFL confirmed to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport that the Dolphins have been fined $30,000 and Gase was fined $15,000 for violating the NFL Injury Report Policy in advance of the club’s October 14 game against the Bears.

“We have been fully cooperative and transparent with the NFL throughout this process,” the team said in a statement. “We received the penalties imposed and will have no further comment.”

The team was fined for listing Tannehill as a full participant on the practice report for Thursday, October 11 when he should have been listed as limited, sources told Rapoport.

The original inquiry was about Tannehill’s “questionable” game status for Sunday vs. the Bears, Rapoport reported. They were cleared for that instance and this was only about Thursday’s practice during which he took fewer reps than normal, Rapoport added.

Oh well, there you go. Some good sleuthing by the NFL on this one and an appropriate sentence handed down by the league’s Department of Justice. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the franchise quarterback you gave $77 million to last year. Practices are complicated. There’s a lot going on. You can’t expect the Dolphins coaching staff to know everything that goes on with their QB.

And I’m sure that if any team in the AFC East had done the exact same thing, the punishment would have been the exact same as well. Anyone else would’ve been fined the equivalent of parking in the red zone too. After all, it’s not like Adam Gase has a history of this sort of thing. Let’s not act like there’s a pattern here of playing fast and loose with the truth when it comes to injuries.

Oh, right.

Come to think of it, DeVante Parker was reportedly healthy for Week 7 but Gase sat him out anyway. Then he came back the following week and had a career game, with 6 catches for 134 yards. Which is weird. But not weird enough to call into question whether or not the Dolphins are covering up injuries to gain some sort of competitive advantage. Because that would be wrong.

So don’t let any of this question your faith in the Phins, the integrity of their organization or your trust in the fairness of the NFL. And for sure don’t let it cast any doubt on Adam Gase, who is still a candidate for Coach of the Year.

I can’t think of any coach more deserving than him and the other names on this list. Not one.