Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens has yet again been fined for in-game actions. For a seventh time this regular season, the NFL has docked his pay and this time, it’s their largest chunk. Pickens was fined $22,511 for a facemask late in the fourth quarter of the team’s Week 18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Though difficult to see, Pickens appears to have pulled down Bengals CB Cam Taylor-Britt by the facemask while attempting to make this catch. At least, this is the play the NFL Operations page refers to the infraction occurring.
A repeat offender for facemasks, he was hit with a higher fine than usual.
After being fined in Week 17 for removing his helmet, Pickens has racked up $90,548 in public and media reported infractions shared by the league. That doesn’t include any that don’t make the league’s weekly page or internal fines from teams. He was reportedly fined over $200,000 last year across public and private fines from league and team.
Pickens had the worst performance of his career against the Bengals. He caught just one pass on six targets for 0-yards, the first Steeler to ever have that kind of line since targets were first tracked in 1992. He dropped three passes, including a would-be downfield gain on third down, and couldn’t get on the same page with QB Russell Wilson for what should’ve been a huge completion in the final seconds to either score and win the game or put Pittsburgh in chip-shot field goal range.
Pickens ended the year stuck on 900-yards with just three touchdowns while losing the team-lead he held in receptions, finishing second behind TE Pat Freiermuth.
No other Steelers were fined. A pair of Bengals were tagged. LB Germaine Pratt was fined $22,511 for this helmet-to-helmet hit on Steelers RB Najee Harris.
Harris briefly left the game to be checked for a concussion but was cleared and finished out the night. Fellow Bengals LB Akeem Davis-Gaither was fined $14,956 for a hip drop tackle in the final moments, taking down Freiermuth after giving up a third down completion.
Though against the rules, the NFL has largely enforced it through fines and not flags on the field.
NFL fines are a preset number determined by the CBA and instead a designated percentage each season. All fine money is donated to NFL charities.
