PFT: Bears' Briggs will take fine to show patriotism

AP

We noted a couple times that it doesn?t make any sense to give Mike Lockley (an undrafted rookie on the Jaguars? practice squad) the same $20,000 fine as Ndamukong Suh (who has a five-year, $60 million contract) after both of them were flagged for personal fouls during the preseason.

With Lockley?s appeal hearing coming on Friday, Lockley?s agent is making exactly that case.

?Michael?s expected earnings are below $100,000 for the season at this moment where Suh?s earning are in the millions,? agent Edward Brown said in an e-mail to PFT. ?So the $20,000 fine is grossly excessive in comparison to other players.?

Lockley also noted something we?ve heard several times now since the preseason started: The players were under the impression that under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, they couldn?t be fined more than 25 percent of their weekly salary for on-field hits. But the league is saying that it interprets the CBA language as only saying that players have the right to appeal fines of more than 25 percent of their weekly salaries, not that the players can?t be fined more than 25 percent of their salaries.

?It?s safe to say that $20,000 grossly exceeds $1,425 (25% of $5,700.00 practice squad salary),? Brown said.

It?s clear that the 25 percent issue has a lot of players angry. One player told Yahoo?s Michael Silver that the NFL?s decision to fine several players more than 25 percent of their weekly paychecks ?feels like an absolute bait-and-switch with the fine system, promising something and absolutely not delivering.?

As it stands, Lockley?s fine will be a whole lot more than 25 percent of his salary: The league plans to take $2,500 out of his paycheck every week for the first eight weeks of the season. So Lockley will be losing about 44 percent of his pay for eight weeks, not 25 percent of his pay for one week.

But Brown believes Lockley?s hit on Patriots receiver Taylor Price never should have been flagged in the first place, and he?s still hoping that Friday?s appeal hearing allows Lockley to get his fine reduced.

?I hope that there is a fair and equitable outcome based solely on the facts of the hit by itself,? Brown said.

There?s nothing fair and equitable about fining a practice squad player $20,000 for a borderline preseason hit.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/08/lance-briggs-ill-get-fined-for-wearing-red-white-and-blue-on-911/related

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