Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith declined to say if he’d been fined by the league for a hip-drop tackle this week, but it looks like we learned the answer to that question on Friday.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Smith has been fined $16,833 for his tackle on Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin in last Monday night’s game. Godwin suffered a season-ending ankle injury on the play.
Smith was not penalized for the tackle, which became illegal due to a rule change this offseason. No players have been flagged for the play during games and the league said that fines were likely to be the disciplinary mechanism due to the difficulty of noting all of the necessary elements of a hip-drop tackle in real time.
The NFL Players Association was against the rule change for that reason, but the league approved it and Smith is the latest player to receive a delayed penalty for his actions.
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