NFLPA concludes investigation into Kyle Van Noy eye injury in Ravens vs. Chiefs opener

BALTIMORE — The NFL Players Association has concluded its investigation into Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy’s claims of the Chiefs medical training staff being “unprofessional” in its handling of an eye injury he suffered during last week’s season opener in Kansas City.

“We’ve done our investigation,” NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell told reporters Thursday afternoon in Owings Mills. “We’ve made the necessary parties aware of how we’ve gotta improve and I’m sure we will improve.”

Van Noy said on his podcast Wednesday that he suffered a fractured orbital bone early in the third quarter when the top of the pad in his helmet jammed into his eye when he hit the ground during a pileup with Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The veteran outside linebacker left the game, did not return and hasn’t practiced since. Six days after the injury, Van Noy said it took “an entire quarter” for the Chiefs’ in-house ophthalmologist to reach him in the locker room.

Per the CBA, Howell said teams are required to be responsive to injuries as “quickly as possible.”

“I think this was an unfortunate situation where that did not occur,” Howell said. “We just can’t have that.”

The Chiefs, meanwhile, declined comment, and Van Noy declined to speak with reporters when he was approached Wednesday.

In a statement, the NFL said “it’s disappointing the NFLPA would publicize unsupported conclusions without attempting to understand the facts.” The NFL said it reviewed Van Noy’s treatment with both teams’ medical staffs and said it’s “comfortable he received appropriate care.”

Howell is in the midst of visiting clubs around the league to address player concerns, among other topics. He also met with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti for two hours Thursday.

In an NFLPA survey conducted among 1,706 players across the league that was released in February, Baltimore ranked 15th overall with a B-minus or better in eight of 11 categories. But only 79% of players felt the Ravens have enough full-time trainers (28th overall), 74% felt they have enough full-time physical therapists (25th overall), 80% felt they have enough hot tub space (21st overall) and 76% felt they have enough cold tub space (26th overall).

However, Baltimore did make improvements, per the survey, when it came to its strength coaches, which received an F-minus in 2023 and ranked the worst in the league. The Ravens fired Steve Saunders and promoted his assistant, Scott Elliott, before the 2023 results were announced.

“It’s clear that Steve [Bisciotti] very much wants to be responsive to what the players are looking for and is making the right investments to do that,” Howell said. “That’s very much the objective of the survey. It’s not to shame an owner but it is to reflect accurately how our members feel.”

How players feel about a potential 18-game schedule, however, remains to be seen.

Earlier this year, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he favored expanding the schedule to 18 games with the season concluding in a Presidents’ Day weekend built around the Super Bowl on Sunday night. In mid-July, the NFLPA told The Washington Post that it has had discussions with the league at a “very high level.”

Howell reiterated Thursday that those talks are a “long way” from becoming reality, however.

“When you look at how the league makes money, number of games is one of them,” he said. “So we’d all have to be relatively naive to not expect that the league would not ask for more games in a season. But we are long way from even getting to that.”

A desire to move to an 18-game schedule anytime soon would also open up the collective bargaining agreement between the league and NFLPA, which doesn’t expire until 2031.

Howell said there are other priorities for players that take precedent over an increased schedule, including economic, working conditions, benefits, how rules are established and getting more teams to install grass fields. Currently, only 15 of the NFL’s 32 teams, including the Ravens, play on grass.

“So [as of] today, no negotiations, conversations between me and the league as to let’s start talking about the length of the season,” he said. “But it’s out there.”