Detroit Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown announced on his podcast that he will be appealing his $40k fine.
Last week, the NFL announced that Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had been fined $43,709 for impermissible use of the helmet/launching during a block he laid in Detroit’s Week 11 game against the Chicago Bears . On the run play, St. Brown immediately attacks the safety, lowering his head ever so slightly before making contact.
Here’s a zoomed-in/slowed-down clip of the play that led to Amon-Ra St. Brown’s $43,709 fine. Right or wrong — and many players have made clear they feel it’s the latter — this is what the NFL is looking for and the fines keep coming. pic.twitter.com/78d6poBXuJ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 26, 2023
On his podcast with brother Equanimeous St. Brown, Amon-Ra reacted to the fine and announced he is appealing it .
“$43,000. Bro, I did the math, if Tyreek Hill got fined the same amount as me, equivalent to his salary, it’s like $1.5 million,” St. Brown said. “Do you know how heavy that is? Guys, I play in the NFL, I make money, but I don’t make nearly as much as some of these other players do. $43k is a lot. I can buy a new car for $43k, a brand-spanking new Tesla. I could buy a brand-new Tesla for $43k, so I’m going to appeal it.
“I don’t even know what else I’m supposed to do, how I should block. It wasn’t even that bad,” St. Brown said.
St. Brown even went as far as to say that when the team did their film breakdown of the Bears game, a coach praised St. Brown for his block on that play.
“Our coach goes, ‘Look at this, look at this play.’ He rewinds it. ‘Look at Saint here. Look at Saint. POW! That’s what we like. We came out hot!’” St. Brown said.
As always, the entire podcast is worth a listen , especially for University of Michigan fans, as Wolverines running back Blake Corum is the guest. Also, Equanimeous goes in hard on NFL officiating, if you’re into that kind of thing.
UPDATE: St. Brown talked to the media a little more about the situation on Thursday. Here’s what he had to say:
“They way I blocked, they said it wasn’t legal. They said it was forcible contact to the head. So I guess I just have to do better.”
When asked specifically what he needs to change, he said:
“I think just not lowering your head, I guess. Using your shoulder, just not making forcible contact with your head to the other player’s head. But, like I said, I kinda tend to block that way, so I have to figure some things out.”
St. Brown also suggested something needs to be done about the scaling of the fines, as it relates to the players’ salary:
“Yeah, I think so, but at the end of the day there’s only so much we can do as players. We can speak out about it, but there’s still rules that have to be followed in this game and we have to do our best to follow those. But I feel like $43,000 for what I did is quite a lot.”