Josh Jacobs Furious NFL Fined Him For Bracing For Contact

The NFL just dished out another nonsensical fine, this time on Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs. 

During a 30-6 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, Jacobs ran up the middle on third down. As a linebacker approached him, he lowered his head to meet the rushing defender.

Nothing egregious happened. Two guys collided on a football play, and life went on.

However, the NFL circled back to this play almost a week later and fined Jacobs for the play. How big of a fine was it? It was a grand total of $21,855.

Mind you, this was an inconsequential play in a blowout game. Take a look for yourself.

In no world should Jacobs get penalized for this collision. I get the validity of wanting to protect the health of players, especially with regards to the head. But lowering your head in a way helps runners brace for contact. After all, what is Jacobs supposed to do? Stand there flat-footed and let a linebacker with a full head of steam ram him in the chest? I don’t think so!

The running back rightfully voiced extreme displeasure over the news.

You can’t completely eliminate contact to the head unless you play flag football, and that’s not a marketable game. Forget that the Olympics included it as one of their sports, no one would pay hundreds of dollars to watch that on a Sunday afternoon.

NFL players, running backs especially, should be allowed to lower their heads to brace for impact.

Josh Jacobs Incident The Latest In A Long Line Of Ridiculous NFL Fines

Jacobs’ fine is one of many highly questionable financial penalties on the season. Just last week, Philadelphia Eagles running back D'Andre Swift got hit with a $9,857 fine for a similar play.

This collision seemed more violent than Jacobs', yet it was $12,000 cheaper. Make it make sense.

But the inconsistent punishments don't stop there. Miami Dolphins safety DeShon Elliot suffered two ridiculous punishments from the NFL after a game against the New England Patriots.

At some point the NFL must determine what’s worth fining players for and what isn’t. While these guys have lots of money in their bank accounts, all of these fines should be flagged for unnecessary roughness.

Future NFL Hall-of-Famer defensive end J.J. Watt said it best when he declared that there’s no difference between these fines and theft.

Something has to give. Players can’t be punished this frequently. And for goodness, sake, let the guys play physical football.