Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has been handed the biggest fine of his career. But Suh has avoided a suspension for his illegal low block on Vikings center John Sullivan on Sunday.
The NFL has fined Suh $100,000, a much heavier fine than players typically get for personal fouls on the field, and a fine that demonstrates that Suh’s repeat-offender status has him viewed as a marked man by the NFL’s discipline police.
Suh’s largest previous fine came last season, when his pay was docked $30,000 for kicking Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin on Thanksgiving. Suh had been fined lesser amounts on other occasions for more run-of-the-mill fouls like roughing the passer and late hits.
The most money Suh ever lost for a disciplinary measure was $164,000, when he lost two weeks’ pay during a two-game suspension for stomping on Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith on Thanksgiving in 2011.
Former NFL player Merton Hanks, now the NFL’s vice president of football operations, determined the dollar amount of the fine. Suh has the opportunity to appeal the fine, and an appeal would be heard by either Ted Cottrell or Matt Birk.