Lost in the criticism over the emphasis on illegal contact and the resulting increase in penalties this NFL preseason, is the fact the Seattle Seahawks have been relatively well-behaved, incurring only two illegal contact penalties through three preseason games, one of which the NFL admitted was wrong after the fact, and another that was offset by a holding call. In addition, the starting defensive backs haven’t been flagged for anything this preseason. Well, it appears the league found some other way to punish them, and it’s a real doozy:
Seahawks & Pete Carroll collectively fined by than $300,000 by NFL for violation of off-season non-contact rules, per sources.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) August 26, 2014
The @Seahawks also lose 2 minicamp practices after review of June 16 OTA practice was deemed unsuitable under CBA rules. Story on @ESPNNFL — Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) August 26, 2014
Mortensen reports that Pete Carroll was fined “at least” $100,000, while the team was fined “in excess of” $200,000. This isn’t Carroll’s first violation of the no-contact rules, which, according to the 2011 CBA, prohibits physical contact between players during the offseason. Previously, the Seahawks were docked mini-camp practices in 2012. In addition to the fines, the team will lose two mini-camp practices in 2015.
UPDATE: Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports that the fines stem from a practice on June 19th (the Seahawks didn’t have a practice on the 16th), which is also the day Richard Sherman and wide receiver Phillip Bates got into a physical altercation (see above photo).
However, Seahawks did not practice on June 16, the date mentioned. But penalties, etc., mentioned in story are correct.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) August 26, 2014
It’s thought the practice they reviewed was the one that included a fight between Richard Sherman and Phil Bates which was June 19.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) August 26, 2014
We’ll update again once we know more, but if the fight played a role in the league dropping the hammer, then that seems a bit excessive.
CORRECTION: The Sherman-Bates fight was June 18th. We still don’t know which practice the league reviewed, though.
[ESPN]
