NFL begins announcing weekly fines

The NFL has finally applied a healthy dose of transparency to its fine process.

After years of forcing reporters to play a guessing game over which players were possibly fined or not for sanctions called or not during the previous week of games, the NFL has begun announcing all fines.

The complete list of fines from Week 1 they’re here.

One specific type of violation that previously went unreported related to the rule against lowering the helmet to initiate forced contact with an opponent. Rarely is a flag raised for such sanctions. It is much more common for players to be fined.

It’s still unclear what fines relate to lowering the helmet, as the league announces such violations as unnecessary roughness.

During the first week of the regular season, there were 32 fines in total. Most of them were due to unnecessary harshness. Four were for unsportsmanlike conduct. Two were for an illegal hit on a quarterback. One was for an illegal peel-off block.

Before this season, reporters had to ask the league whether or not a given player had been fined. Many reporters who do not 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, all fines will be disclosed.

Any fine is subject to appeal. Hopefully, the league will be equally transparent about which fines are honored and which are waived.