The Los Angeles Chargers raised their record to 6-3 and held their grip on the AFC’s No. 6 seed as they got past the faltering, 1-8 Tennessee Titans Sunday, 27-20. But the win did not come easilyâ and could prove especially costly for one Chargers player who appears to be looking at his third NFL fine of the season.
Six-year veteran defensive tackle Teair Tart found his name in the headlines earlier this season after he unleashed a slap to the face onto one of the NFL’s most high-profile players, Kansas City Chiefs future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce.
That incident occurred in the season opener September 5 in Brazil, and drew a 15-yard penalty for the Chargers. But Tart was not ejected from the game.
Nonetheless, the NFL later punished Tart for his transgression against Kelce by slapping the Chargers defensive lineman, figuratively this time, with a fine of $12,172.
Tart Also Fined For Hit on Dolphins QB
But Tart wasn’t done writing checks to the NFL Operations Department, which levels fines on players each week for various penalties, and even some plays that were not called penalties by officials on the field.
In Week 6, the Chargers traveled to Miami where they barely scraped by the Dolphins, another struggling team. The Chargers survived that game, 29-27. But Tart again was the center of the NFL’s attention, for all the wrong reasons.
Tart leveled Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with an obviously late hit, incurring another 15-yard penalty and setting up what became a Dolphins touchdown. The league slammed Tart with a $17,389 punishment for that blatant offense, called roughing the passer by the game officials.
Tart had been signed by the Dolphins in April of last year, but released during the preseason. On Sunday, Tart committee his third punishable offense of the season, and second unnecessary roughness penalty (in addition to his roughing the passer call).
Tart Flagged For Violation on Special Teams
This time, Tart was flagged while on special teams, defending an extra point try by Tennessee kicker Joey Slye. Tart continued to rough up a Titans blocker, offensive lineman Peter Skoronski, after the kick had already gone through the goalposts.
While normally Tart’s unnecessary roughness penalty against the Titans may not be enough to merit a fine from the league office, with the Los Angeles enforcer’s history of extracurricular violent acts and Sunday’s being his third of the season, the NFL will likely want send a message to Tart â signed as an undrafted free agent by none other than Tennessee in 2020.
On the play, Tart appeared to drive his knee into Skoronski’s midsection, making the call his second offense of the season for what the league classifies as “Striking/Kicking/Tripping/Kneeing.” A second offense, under a table of fines set down in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, would draw a fine of $17,968 â bringing the total amount that Tart would have been fined in just the first nine games of the season to $47,529.
His total pay this year, including bonuses, is $4.5 million.
Punishment Announcements Coming Saturday
The NFL has not announced its fines for Week 9 publicly yet, and will not do so until Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. But Tart, like all players punished by the NFL, will be notified in a letter from the NFL during the week if he has been fined, and will have the right to appeal the ruling.
In his rookie season of 2020 with the Titans, Tart was suspended for one game for what the league deemed to be deliberately stepping on an opponent, Wyatt Teller of the Cleveland Browns.
Tart was fined $33,529 for that offense.
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