An issue with the NFL fines and suspensions.

I have recently heard that the NFL is really going to start fining and suspending defenders for hard hits a lot more next season. I have major issue with this.

My problem with these fines and suspensions have nothing to do with player safety. NFL owners have claimed that they really care about player safety; most players say that they want to appear to care, but, in reality, they don’t want to see big-name fun to watch players (mostly quarterbacks) get injured. I haven’t actually seen enough evidence from each side of the story to really have a fair opinion on that subject. But there is one major problem with the fines that I have.

Look at Hines Ward. He is considered by many to be the toughest, most dirty player in the NFL. Now, imagine if Ward played corner, or even safety. After one season, he would have accumulated so many fines that he would be paying the NFL to play football. But he doesn’t. Because he plays offense.

Am I the only one who thinks this is unfair?

Only defensive players can be fined and suspended for their dirty plays. Considering the fact that the owners plan on increasing the fines for the players, guys like James Harrison could be fined $500,000 every year. Yet Ward can do anything he wants and not receive a fine.

If the owners insist on adding more fines and suspensions to the players, then money should be taken away from the players who can’t be fined and be used to pay the defensive starters every year to account for the money they will be fined because they play on the defensive side of the ball. If the owners were to take $30,000 from the salaries of every player in the NFL that isn’t a defensive starter, and distribute it evenly among each defensive starter in the NFL (excluding corners, who are too small to be fined a lot in the system for hitting a running back, but also too close to the line of scrimmage to get a running start and hit a receiver in the air. For corners, I wouldn’t take the $30,000 out of their salary nor would I give them the extra money), each starter would get an extra $140,000 added toward their salary. Which seems like a fair amount to make up for the fact that they can will be fined. Now, in some cases, maybe the owners should take away a bit less money from the players that make the league minimum salary and take away more from the really rich players (kind of like taxes), but, in any case, a system like that would make the fines and suspensions more fair.

Another thing that must be cleared up about the system; defensive players will be paid the money for every game started. If a team’s starting linebacker gets injured and his backup plays for a game, then the backup will get the bonus money for that game.

Ultimately, the NFL fines are pretty unfair, but this system could really stop it. Defensive players won’t be victimized because they play on defense. Whether or not the league really cares about player safety is up for debate. Regardless, the way the owners do the fines can be more fair.