Redskins' rookie Niles Paul fined $20,000 for hit on punt return

[ToyCen428]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...l-fined-20000/

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.

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I'm going to tell you, this makes me mad. Anyone who watched the game (not many since the game was only shown in VA/DC and St. Louis areas), SCREAMED at the Rams punt returners for not knowing WTF they are doing.

The first 3 punts by the Redskins resulted in the Rams PR's not calling for a fair catch, and getting hit like a freight train right as they caught the ball. All 3 hits were huge, none bigger then the one by Niles Paul but the Fair Catch rule is in place to protect the PR's.

How much can he possibly make this year as a 5th round pick? $20,000 might be chump change to Dunta Robinson but it's a huge hit to a 5th round rookie.

by the way, the 4th time the Skins punted it, and St. Louis' PR called for a Fair Catch, he received a round of applause and a standing ovation... too funny.