Bryan Bennett/Getty ImagesNew England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was reportedly fined $50,000 for the team’s violations of NFL offseason rules.
Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal reported the news Thursday.
The Patriots were docked two organized team activities due to a violation of meeting protocols, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The violation seemed one mostly of the clerical variety, with a meeting being made visible on the team’s internal calendar—thus changing it from voluntary to mandatory under the eyes of the NFLPA.
No on-field violations transpired.
The Patriots’ history of rulebreaking likely led to more attention being placed on the incident than if it happened with another team. New England was famously the subject of both the Deflategate and SpyGate controversies, leading to a reputation that the team would bend the rules if necessary to gain a competitive edge.
It’s highly unlikely a 15-minute meeting in May will have any impact on the team’s performance in September, so this merely goes down as a costly error that will cost Belichick money and the team some offseason bonding.
Source : Bleacher Report