The Baltimore Ravens are under NFL review for misreporting Lamar Jackson’s practice status ahead of their Sunday game against the Chicago Bears. With a 1-5 record and playoff hopes on life support, the team now faces heightened scrutiny and has formally responded to the league.

The Ravens clarified that Jackson’s Friday reps were taken with the scout team, not as QB1, prompting his downgrade to “limited” and eventual ruling out due to a lingering hamstring injury. The NFL flagged this as a potential violation of injury report rules. In response, Baltimore elevated Tyler Huntley to start and made several roster adjustments for Week 8.

As NFL insider Ian Rapoport explained, “‘I think the assumption had been by a lot of people that Lamar Jackson would be back in as the starter against the Bears. That’s not going to happen. So my understanding is that Lamar Jackson was a full participant this week for the Ravens on Friday, but not as you would say. So here’s what it was. Lamar took scout team reps.”

Rapoport elaborated: “He took his full allotment of reps, but not as QB1. So basically, according to the rules, it is going to be, they downgraded him essentially from full to limited because, letter of the law, if he didn’t take his QB1 reps, he wasn’t full.”

According to the NFL rulebook, if a player practices only with the scout team due to a medical condition and doesn’t take his usual starter reps, he must be listed as “Limited Participation”, no matter how much he is involved in practice.

Lamar Jackson missed two games after injuring his hamstring in Week 4. The bye week gave him extra time to recover, but his absence from Monday’s practice raised fresh concerns about his health. Those doubts eased when he returned on Wednesday, lifting spirits in a locker room still hopeful for a turnaround.

In his first four games, Jackson completed nearly 72% of his passes for over 850 yards, 10 touchdowns, and just one interception. He continues to defy early skeptics, holding the highest career regular-season passer rating (103.0) in NFL history among qualified quarterbacks.

Ravens’ next move in Jackson’s absence

As the NFL reviews Baltimore’s handling of the injury report, roster moves have quickly followed. Ian Rapoport also reported on X, “The NFL will look into the #Ravens practice and participation situation surrounding Lamar Jackson’s status, I’m told, as it reviews any matter involving a change to a player’s status.”

He continued, ”So Lamar Jackson downgraded to limited and out. So Snoop Huntley, Tyler Snoop Huntley, just signed off the practice squad to the game day roster.”

The Ravens formally added Huntley on Friday. This brings back a familiar face in Baltimore: Huntley played 10 games as a starter from 2020 to 2023. He led the Ravens to a 2–2 finish late in the season that year.

Following his time in Baltimore, the former Utah undrafted free agent played for the Miami Dolphins in 2024, where he started five games and accounted for five total touchdowns and ended as a starter at 2–3.

He’s again in purple and black now. Huntley is in a familiar role, being asked to guide a struggling Ravens offense amidst a transition.

With Baltimore desperate for momentum and the league scrutinizing Jackson’s rehab, Sunday’s game in Chicago could shape both their playoff chances and their standing with league officials