J. Watt is upset with the NFL fine imposed on Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
On November 25, the NFL announced that St. Brown had been fined $43,709 for a block he made in the team’s Week 11 win over the Chicago Bears. It was the league’s heaviest fine that week, but it sparked great debate because St. Brown made only mild contact on the play.
Watt rushed to social media shortly after the penalty was issued, accusing the NFL of “stealing” money from the Lions receiver.
NFL Accused of ‘Stealing’ From Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
Watt shared a video of St. Brown’s hit, remarking how tough it was for him to identify the infringement. As NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero pointed out in the original piece, the league is cracking down on players who lower their heads to make contact with opponents.
Here we go again…
General rule of thumb:
If you have to watch the video multiple times to try figuring out which person did something wrong and you still can’t figure it out, we probably shouldn’t be taking $43,709 from someone.This. Is. Stealing. Money.
🤦🏼♂️ https://t.co/zuv45Lzj8t
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 26, 2023
“Here we go again… ” “We probably shouldn’t be taking $43,709 from someone if you have to watch the video multiple times to figure out who did something wrong and you still can’t figure it out,” Watt commented on X, now known as Twitter. “This. Is. Stealing. Money.”
St. Brown also took to X to discuss the contentious fine, posting Pelissero’s post with the caption: “Almost 5% of my salary.” “I’m in pain.”
According to Jeremy Reisman of SB Nation’s Pride of Detroit, the fine was intended to convey a message to players that the league wants them to avoid lowering their heads when making contact.
“Whether he’s being sarcastic or not, he’s telling the truth,” wrote Reisman. “As he is only in the third year of his rookie contract, his salary this year is $940,000.” And, while St. Brown will be paid in the long term, and this is simply a drop in the bucket, it speaks to a broader concern for players who will not earn massive extensions, and their entire careers may be played on cheap rookie contracts. These are hardly small fines for those players.”
Lions Moving Ahead After Rough Thanksgiving Loss
The Lions are coming off a tough Thanksgiving setback to the Green Bay Packers, falling down early and failing to recover in a 29-22 loss.
After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell stated that the 8-3 Lions are not in “panic mode” because of the loss to their divisional opponent.
“The easy thing is to get into panic mode,” Campbell told reporters, according to NFL.com. “I know what it looks like, and we’ve done well enough out there, so I’m not worried.” We’ve got the appropriate players who know how to have fun. We’re going to tidy some things up, and when we get back, we’ll have six (games) to play. And the battle has begun. They think these will be some kind of cruise control. We’re going to have to scrape, claw, and battle for everything, guy. We have no choice. That’s the kind of group we are. That’s where we are.”
