NFL Says It Will Start Suspending Defenders for Helmet-to-Helmet Hits

[Elmore Furth]

I'll believe it when I see it.

A day after vowing to suspend players for helmet-to-helmet hits, the N.F.L. instead decided Tuesday to fine three players who were involved in a string of injurious collisions last Sunday.

The N.F.L. wants to give players and teams fair warning that it plans to ratchet up discipline for violations of players’ safety rules, the league spokesman Greg Aiello said. Players, coaches and teams will be told Wednesday that future disciplinary actions will be harsher, setting the stage for possible suspensions.

In a letter to each of the players, Ray Anderson, the N.F.L.’s executive vice president for football operations, warned that “future offenses will result in an escalation of fines up to and including suspension.”

The failure to suspend players retroactively after one of the N.F.L.’s most troubling days raised the question of whether the league had talked tougher than it was prepared to immediately act.




N.F.L. Will Suspend for Hits to Head