The NFL makes a weekly display of announcing player fines from the previous week's action every Saturday. Last Saturday, Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was fined $43,507 for an illegal block in Week 11 against the Chicago Bears.
Here’s a zoomed-in/slowed-down clip of the play that led to Amon-Ra St. Brown’s $43,709 fine. Right or wrong — and many players have made clear they feel it’s the latter — this is what the NFL is looking for and the fines keep coming. pic.twitter.com/78d6poBXuJ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 26, 2023
St. Brown did lower his head ever so slightly, and the league wants to eradicate players doing that to initiate contact in a display of caring about player safety. But a fine that's 84 percent of St. Brown's weekly paycheck? When another player was fined $30,000 less for literally suplexing an opposing player on the same Sunday?
There seems to be no rhyme or reason for how the NFL allocates fines, which is best-scene by the weird dollar amounts.
St. Brown is not a repeat offender, to perhaps boost what he was docked. And as former NFL defensive lineman J.J. Watt said on social media, if you have to watch a clip multiple times to figure out who did something wrong, a fine in access of $43,000 is ridiculous.
Amon-Ra St. Brown confirms he will appeal ridiculous fine
St. Brown has a weekly forum via the podcast he does with his brother, Bears' wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown. The fine he got from Week 11, against his brother's team, was an easy topic.
"$43,000. Bro, I did the math, if Tyreek Hill got fined the same amount as me, equivalent to his salary, it’s like $1.5 million,” St. Brown said. “Do you know how heavy that is? Guys, I play in the NFL, I make money, but I don’t make nearly as much as some of these other players do. $43k is a lot. I can buy a new car for $43k, a brand-spanking new Tesla. I could buy a brand-new Tesla for $43k, so I’m going to appeal it. I don’t even know what else I’m supposed to do, how I should block. It wasn’t even that bad,”
St. Brown added how the play was viewed by a coach when the Lions did their film review of the game.
"Our coach goes, ‘Look at this, look at this play.’ He rewinds it. ‘Look at Saint here. Look at Saint. POW! That’s what we like. We came out hot!’”
There's a case for St. Brown's fine to be completely erased, though the close-up view shows he lowered his head a bit. At minimum, he should easily have it cut in half upon appeal.