A pair of Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with lighter wallets in addition to suffering an ugly Week One loss against the San Francisco 49ers. According to the NFL, now posting a list of weekly fines, LS Christian Kuntz was fined $5,222 for unnecessary roughness while S Keanu Neal was fined $8,556 for the same infraction.
Kuntz’s penalty came on a facemask while covering a punt early in the second quarter, one of several special teams miscues made on the day. Neal’s, according to the league, happened at the end of a Pressley Harvin III punt in the second quarter.
Kuntz finished the game with two solo tackles. Neal ended the day with five tackles across 44 total snaps, 33 on special teams and eleven on punts. He served as a starting wing on the Steelers’ punt team in addition to playing safety.
Here’s a look at Kuntz’s penalty that led to the fine.
The All-22 didn’t capture exactly what happened to Neal but it appears he got into a shoving match with WR Jauan Jennings away from Harvin’s punt, which travelled out of bounds. The end zone view doesn’t capture all that happened but on the left side, you can see Jennings (No. 15) ram Neal, who ostensibly retaliated. Neither player was penalized. Jennings was not fined.
All NFL fines go to charities. Fine amounts are predetermined, according to the CBA with a reduction for young players and rookies who have smaller base salaries. Players have the right to appeal any fine but it’s doubtful either player will.
In the preseason, LB Kwon Alexander was fined a hefty amount, more than $43,000, for a tackle on a Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back. He later vocally came out against the fine and said he was appealing. It’s unknown what the verdict, if there has been one, was.
Neal and Kuntz were two of 32 players fined this week. Per league statistics, there were fines on 1.3 percent of the Week One snaps. Arizona Cardinals LB Kyzir White received the heftiest fine, more than $18,000 for a hit against the Washington Commanders.
The only fine against the 49ers was levied to CB Deommodore Lenoir for his late hit on RB Najee Harris late in the first half.
