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USATSI

For the first time in NFL history, the league has decided to start revealing how many players get fined each week and how much money each player will be fined. It's a surprising showing of transparency when you consider that the NFL had never shown any indication that it was even thinking about releasing this information. 

In the past, the NFL never formally announced any fines, but the numbers would still sometimes leak out through various reporters and the players themselves. 

The NFL's fine process is pretty simple. If a player is going to be hit with a fine, the league sends that player a letter that informs them of what they did. The letter includes a video of the play where they allegedly violated an NFL rule. The letter also explains specifically why the player is being fined and how much it will cost. At that point, the player can appeal the fine or agree to have it taken out of their next paycheck.

The letters are sent out over the course of the week and then the fines are generally finalized on Saturday, which is when the league will be releasing the fine numbers this year. The first batch of information was released on Sept. 16 when the NFL released all the fines from Week 1. 

According to the league, there were 2,468 plays run in Week 1 with 32 fines being handed out, which means a total of 1.3% of plays led to a fine. 

The largest individual fine of Week 1 went to Arizona's Kyzir White, who got docked $18,056 for an unnecessary roughness play where he hit Sam Howell as the Commanders QB was running out of bounds. 

The player who paid the most fine money in Week 1 was Quinnen Williams, who got hit with two separate fines of $13,333 for a total of $26,666. 

By the way, if you've ever wondered where the fine money goes, it's all donated to the Professional Athletes Foundation  and the NFL Foundation.