When I was a bit more naive about the NFL, salaries and contracts, I assumed that when players were injured, they didn’t get paid.
Of course, that would be horribly unfair, but I was young and — as I said — naive.
Later, it occurred to me that teams might get some salary cap relief for injured players; there seemed to be a good argument for it. Again, I found that reality didn’t match my expectations.
So, when it occurred to me, one day, that players might get paid less when they’re injured than they do when healthy, I dismissed the thought as being wrong-headed, as well.