Last week Broncos rookie safety Rahim Moore knocked Bills receiver Donald Jones out of the game with a hit that the officials felt was worthy of a 15-yard penalty but Moore thought was just good, hard football.
No surprise, the NFL has sided with the officials.
Moore has been fined $20,000 for the hit, the latest in a series of $20,000 fines the NFL has handed down for hard hits during the preseason. Other players fined $20,000 include Buccaneers linebacker Mason Foster, Jaguars linebacker Mike Lockley and Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
Although Moore says he was just trying to lead with his shoulder and knock the ball loose, the NFL’s stance is that Moore was headhunting on a defenseless receiver. The video is here, and PFT Planet is free to weigh in on whether the hit was clean or dirty.
The good news for Moore is that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement protects players from fines of more than 25 percent of their weekly base salary, which means his fine will likely be reduced to 25 percent of his weekly pay of $22,058.82, or $5,514.71.