Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR for the Lions, reacts after being hit with the largest fine of the week.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, was fined an enormous sum of $43,709 for a block he threw during the team’s Week 11 game against the Chicago Bears.
By NFL standards, that is a whopping fine, especially for a player who doesn’t exactly have a reputation for misbehavior or poor conduct. It was, in fact, by far the biggest fine of Week 11. Alex Highsmith, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, received the next-closest fine, $16,391.
The NFL is attempting to reduce these kinds of blocks, which is why the fines are so high. Actually, based on the NFL’s bylaws, we can determine that this is St. Brown’s second transgression. For a first offense, a “impermissible use of the helmet/launching” costs $21,855, and for a second violation, the fee is precisely $43,709. St. Brown has not been fined this season, but it’s unknown when his first transgression occurred because the NFL only began disclosing fines in 2023.
In response to the fine, St. Brown took to social media on Saturday afternoon:
He’s telling the truth, whether or not he’s trying to be snarky. Given that he is just in the third year of his rookie contract, his pay this year is $940,000. Furthermore, even though St. Brown will eventually get compensated and this will only be a small amount, it raises more serious issues for players who might not receive significant contract extensions and instead play their whole careers on inexpensive rookie contracts. For such players, these kinds of sanctions are not small.
The question of whether these sanctions are appropriate or even helpful in preventing helmet-to-helmet collisions is one that this raises for discussion.