J.J. Watt is not pleased with the fine that the NFL imposed on Amon-Ra St. Brown, a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions.
On November 25, the league declared that St. Brown would pay a $43,709 fine for the block he made during the team’s victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 11. Although St. Brown made very little contact on the play, it generated a great deal of controversy and was the biggest fine the league had issued that week.
Watt blasted the league on social media shortly after the penalty was announced for allegedly “stealing” money from the Lions receiver.
NFL Told to “Steal” From Lions Wide Receiver
Watt stated that he had trouble even locating the infraction and provided a link to a shared video of St. Brown’s hit. The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero pointed out in the initial post that players who lower their head to make contact with defenders are facing harsh penalties from the league.
Once more, here we go. As a general guideline, we probably shouldn’t be taking $43,709 from someone if you have to watch the video several times in order to try and determine who did something wrong,” Watt posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is money laundering.”
Additionally, St. Brown used X to express his opinions regarding the contentious fine. He shared Pelissero’s post with the following caption: “Nearly 5% of my salary.” I’m in pain.
The fine was intended to convey the message that the league wants players to cease lowering their heads when making contact, as noted by Jeremy Reisman of SB Nation’s Pride of Detroit.
Reisman stated, “Whether he’s being sarcastic or not, he’s actually telling the truth.” Given that he is only in the third year of his rookie contract, his salary this year is $940,000. Furthermore, even though St. Brown will eventually be compensated and this will only be a small amount, it raises more serious issues for players who might not receive significant contract extensions and instead play their whole careers on cheap rookie contracts. For those players, these kinds of fines are not insignificant.
Lions Advancing Following a Tough Loss
The Lions are coming off a challenging Thanksgiving defeat to the Green Bay Packers, where they fell behind early and were unable to rally for a 29-22 loss.
The 8-3 Lions are looking forward and aren’t going into “panic mode” over the loss to their divisional rival, according to head coach Dan Campbell after the game.
According to NFL.com, Campbell told reporters, “The easy thing is to get in panic mode.” “We’ve been decent enough out there, and I know what it looks like, but I’m not scared,” We have the right guys, skilled players. After tidying up a few things, we’ll have six (games) left to play when we return. And now the battle has begun. They really believe that these will function as cruise control. Man, we’re gonna have to fight, scratch, fight, and claw our way to everything. We must. We are that kind of team. Right there is where we are.
