Penalties have been a noticeable thing for Derroit Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold over his first two NFL games. Most notably, three pass interference penalties have led to points for the opposing offense. A fourth penalty, a facemask last week against the Buccaneers, had received less attention beyond the fact it just didn't look like a smart play.
The NFL issues fines from the previous week's appropriate transgressions on Saturdays. Arnold was hit with a $11,255 fine for a 15-yard face penalty on Buccaneers wide receiver Trey Smith last Sunday.
Terrion Arnold got hit with a fine for his facemask infraction. pic.twitter.com/r1q5FBnXCH
— Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network (@Justin_Rogers) September 21, 2024
That seems like a pretty big fine for that kind of penalty, and Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports also noted as much.
"The facemask was there, but it wasn't blatant and it Arnold just sort of got caught in the middle of a pile and reached for whatever he could grab.
-Mike Payton, AtoZ Sports
Terrion Arnold is losing a noticeable chunk of salary for facemask fine
In the first year of his rookie contract, Arnold is making $795,000 in base salary this year. That works out to $44,167 per week (18 weeks). So he's losing a little more than 25 percent of his Week 2 salary to the fine for the facemask penalty.
That's not anywhere near as big a pay hit as Lions' wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown took when he was fined an egregious $43,709 for an illegal block in Week 11 of the 2023 season. That was 84 percent of the St. Brown's weekly paycheck that year. But it's still a noticeable salary ding for Arnold.
How the league determines fine amounts, other than being a repeat offender of the same foul leading to a higher fine than before, is anyone's guess. There was some rhyme/reason to fines for hip-drop tackles from Week 2, but even then three of the four players fined for it received the same fine. It's always odd numbers, as if round dollar amounts are somehow taboo to the league office
In any case, the league may have wanted to send a general message to Arnold about the on-field penalties he has drawn so far. Hitting someone in the wallet is a way to get that message across.