Fans watching the game from the stands or at home only get to see part of the action. When a player has been reprimanded by the NFL with a fine, some fans double down on why he deserves to pay the amount. However, it’s a different picture for the player who has to pay up that amount.

According to Tom Brady, the situation is much more troublesome than it looks from above.

“What they start doing is they start fining you $50,000, $75,000,” Brady said on the Stick to Football podcast. “And I’m saying like, I hate that. I hate the fact that, like, you sign a contract for $2 million a year or $5 million a year. And it’s so easy for someone to say, ‘Give me $75,000’ or ‘Give me $50,000.’

“It’s your second offense, that’s $100,000; that’s your third offense, $200,000. … What job is like that in the world where you make a mistake at your job, and they come and they go, ‘Hey, we’re going to take your salary away.’ Then people are like, ‘Yeah, you should take his salary away.'”

In 2023, Atlanta Falcons veteran Keith Smith was fined $87,000 for using his helmet illegally during a play in the year 2023. Per the NFL Players Association’s JC Tretter, it was more than what the fullback would make in a week. A coach had also reached out to the league for more clarity on the correct way to do what Smith was fined for, but got no answer. In the end, it was found that Smith never violated the rules.

Had it not been overturned, Smith would have lost a chunk of his $2.35 million salary in that one game alone.

It’s one thing if Brady was fined that amount, having been one of the top earners in the league during his career. But fining players unnecessarily high has become a growing trend. In 2023, Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was fined $43,709 for unnecessary roughness, even though it hadn’t been flagged by the officials during the game.

The fines are classed in four major categories: Unnecessary roughness, Unsportsmanlike conduct towards an opposing player, other unsportsmanlike or prohibited conduct, and conduct detrimental to the integrity of the game. Per Sportico, there are designated baselines in each category. If the fine makes up for more than 10% of the player’s weekly pay, the fines are to be reduced.

Reprimanding players when they go beyond the limits is necessary. Tretter claimed in his piece for the NFLPA that there is a “widening disconnect between enforcing the rules in the spirit of protecting players from extremely dangerous play to over-regulating and penalizing players for playing an inherently dangerous game.” Even though the language is complicated, Tretter claimed it would be something players would understand.

The Oberlin Review found out that in 2022, with the fines that stood, the NFL would have made approximately $15.5 million. In 2023, that number had been reached after only 11 weeks of the season. Last season, the number dropped to the $8 million-mark.

Perhaps the NFL has widened its horizon when it comes to fining players. Or, the latter must have put in extra effort in keeping themselves from erring, in fear of losing their hard-earned money.