1-Man’s Opinion Column-Tuesday “NFL Players-You’ve Got Mail”
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“NFL Player-You’ve Got Mail-You Have Been Fined”
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Mid week is upon us, and players will get those certified letters in the mail from the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue.
You know what they contain. “This is to inform you, you have been fined (fill in the amount) _____________ for violation of Rule ___ of the NFL:”
Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfect leads the league in letters of this nature, some 291,000 poorer in his career, for all type of personal foul penalties for hits.
Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown is a regular contributor to the NFL players fund, for dress code violations, the color of his shoes, towels, things written on his equipment.
The Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain has a bunch of his own mail, all linked to drug violations and suspensions too.
The Giants Odell Beckham can tell you sentence and verse what his letters say for all the excessive celebration penalties and fines he has incurred.
Tom Brady has just one letter in his file, but the file folder is thick with information, correspondence, and legal documents, the aftermath of ‘Deflategate’
The Rams top young pass rusher Aaron Donald has a couple of letters, attached with documentation of his fines for putting his hands on an official during a tantrum.
Meet the Seahawks Earl Thomas, who will get a letter and a fine for what he did on Sunday.
Thomas stripped the ball from a Saints running back and took it back 34-yards for a touchdown. He celebrated by jumping up and down with his teammates along the sidelines, then hugged a side judge in his excitement. It drew a flag, a penalty, and will bring a letter to his locker too.
The video is fun. Thomas jumping for joy, almost doing a dance with the ref, twirling him around as if he were a teammate, or a girlfriend at a polka, on the way to the Seahawks bench.
The official was smiling and surprised, then realized, he had to throw a penalty flag on the guy who made the play, and who touched him in his personal celebration of excitement.
It was funny to see the interaction between the safety and the side judge.
The NFL fines you for anything and everything that happens on Sunday. Today’s mail will bring one of the strangest pay penalties ever seen in the NFL.
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