Redskins rookie receiver and punt team gunner Niles Paul has been fined $20,000 for laying a hit on Rams punt returner Austin Pettis on Sunday.
“I was just informed that I’m being fined 20k for that hit,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “Horrible way to start off my bye week!”
Paul delivered a very hard hit on Pettis, but Paul argued that he didn’t do anything wrong because Pettis didn’t call for a fair catch, and Paul said he timed his arrival perfectly to hit Pettis just as -- and not before -- the ball arrived.
“Its not like I tried to hit the guy in his helmet, I thought I used my shoulder & hit him in the chest,” Paul wrote.
But the NFL disagreed. And now Paul, a fifth-round pick out of Nebraska, will be $20,000 poorer.