A column from NFL Players Association president JC Tretter pointed to it. The player in question has confirmed it.
Via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, Falcons fullback Keith Smith said his $87,418 fine for illegal use of his helmet has been wiped out.
“It’s just like, a lot of the hits, especially at my position, not only just on kick return, but at fullback, because I’ve been fined multiple times for use of helmet,” Smith told Rothstein. “Just carrying out routine blocks.”
The problem comes from the breadth of a rule that was crafted by legal and P.R. (as explained in Playmakers), hidden from the media, and crammed through ownership in early 2018. Players are prohibited from lowering their helmets and initiating forcible contact with an opponent. That still happens all the time, especially when one player tries to block another.
“They are just very subjective in that rule, use of helmet, is sometimes impossible because you can’t always control how a defender takes you on,” Smith said. “So you can only use the technique that you’re taught continuously and sometimes that goes against the rule when you slow it down in slow motion.”
In his column, Tretter said the coach of the player in question (as we now know, Smith) “previously reached out to the league for guidance on how to properly execute the technique his player had been previously fined for, but he received no answer.”
The answer came from the appeal process. The full fine was scrapped. Which shows that, frankly, the NFL has no idea how to properly enforce the rule. Which should make the NFL reconsider the wisdom of the rule in the first place.