Just two weeks ago, we were crying foul over the National Football League's ridiculous system of punishing its players for what they termed bad behavior—specifically for the way they treated Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco following a game against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 13.
It seems the NFL is actively searching for ways to outdo itself when it comes to such silly decision-making..
On Saturday, the league announced a fine for Los Angeles Chargers safety Tony Jefferson to the tune of $7K. The fine came as a mere slap on the wrist for a player who has been punished before for unnecessary hits. This time, the victim was Chiefs wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, who took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Jefferson while making a catch in K.C.'s loss to the Chargers in Week 15 at Arrowhead Stadium.
Thornton has been sitting in the Chiefs' concussion protocol since Jefferson's hit, declared out for Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans and possibly beyond. Yet for that tackle, which was flagged in the moment for unnecessary roughness, Jefferson was fined a mere $7,111.
Somehow Tony Jefferson got away with a slap on the wrist while Isiah Pacheco was saddled with a hefty fine for completely different scenarios.
Consider Pacheco's incident from Week 13. Pacheco lowered his helmet while running the ball to gain additional yards and take on contact from the defender. There was no injury on the play. There was flag on the play. There was no issue with the play at all by those who saw it happen in real time. The Cowboys defender didn't speak up about Pacheco's behavior. The Cowboys coaches didn't take exception. It was a normal play that proceeded into the next without incident.
Following the game, however, the NFL decided to levy a fine on Pacheco for the maneuver. Get this: the total was over $46,000. Yeah, that's about a full game's check for Pacheco, who is a former seventh-round pick for the Chiefs.
Let's break this down: A helmet-to-helmet blow from Jefferson, who is a previous offender, that caused a concussion and was flagged in the moment was worth a $7K fine. Let's not forget that a fight broke out in the aftermath of Jefferson's hit, and he was ejected from the game immediately. In other words, everyone in the moment—from fans to players to coaches to announcers to those in the review booth in NYC—agreed that Jefferson was wrong and deserved to be punished.
If you do the math, however, Jefferson's fine was only 15 percent—yes fifteen percent—of what Pacheco had to pay for a play that no one thought anything of. It's bananas. Nothing here makes sense, which is precisely the point. The NFL's "system" of fines and suspensions and drug tests have never made sense to those on the outside. The league can get away with shadow decisions and zero accountability, and it's as if it flaunts its ability to do so.
This won't be the last time the Chiefs feel the uneven and unfair nature of the NFL's punishment system. It's just sad that it comes at a very real financial cost for a player like Pacheco (and so little for someone like Jefferson).