The NFL has finally applied a healthy dose of transparency to its fine process.
After years of forcing reporters to play a guessing game as to which players possibly were or weren’t fined for penalties called or not called during the prior week of games, the NFL has begun announcing all fines.
The full slate of Week 1 fines are here.
One specific type of infraction that previously went underreported related to the rule against lowering the helmet to initiate forcible contact with an opponent. Rarely is a flag thrown for such penalties. Far more often, players are fined.
It’s still not clear which fines relate to lowering the helmet, since the league announces those fouls as unnecessary roughness.
For the first week of the regular season, there were 32 total fines. Most were for unnecessary roughness. Four were for unsportsmanlike conduct. Two were for an illegal hit on a quarterback. One was for an illegal peel back block.
Before this season, reporters had to ask the league whether a given player was or wasn’t fined. Many reporters who don’t work directly for the league suspected that the league specifically disclosed the fines to reporters on the NFL payroll without forcing them to play the weekly guessing game.
Now, none of that matters. Each week, every fine will be disclosed.
Every fine is subject to appeal. Hopefully, the league will be equally transparent as to which fines stick, and as to which fines are overturned.
