Minkah Fitzpatrick fined $29,852 for KC Concepcion hit

Here's the play that cost him. Fitzpatrick got the ball-carrier in the first quarter of the Jets' Week 5 win over Cleveland, and Concepcion didn't finish the game.

Mike Garafolo

@MikeGarafolo

#Jets S Minkah Fitzpatrick was fined twice for a total of over $29k on plays against the #Browns. This hit on KC Concepcion, which Concepcion said wasn’t a dirty hit, resulted in a fine of $17,911 for a hit on a defenseless player.

The officials threw an unnecessary roughness flag on it for hitting a defenseless player, and the league office agreed when the fines came out. That's the $17,911. The $11,941 is for a separate play 4 snaps earlier, when Fitzpatrick tackled Concepcion by the facemask and ripped his helmet off. So 1 receiver, 2 fines, and all of it in the first quarter.

Now add the week before. Fitzpatrick had already been fined $17,911 for a hip-drop tackle, so the bills are stacking up fast.

Rich Cimini

@RichCimini

Jets S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s fine for the KC Concepcion hit is $17,911 (hit on a defenseless player). Fitzpatrick also got fined $11,941 for a facemask on Concepcion. The previous week, Fitzpatrick got fined $17,911 for a hip-drop tackle. Total: $47,863 #Jets

For the record, the math in that tweet is $100 high. $17,911 plus $11,941 plus $17,911 comes to $47,763. That's still a ton of money to send the league office in 2 weeks, and it's the kind of streak that gets a veteran safety a reputation with the people who hand out fines.

What makes this one weird is that the guy who got hit is on Fitzpatrick's side. Concepcion went to the podium and said it was a clean football play. That doesn't happen much when a receiver gets knocked out of a game.

Fitzpatrick has said he'll appeal. His argument is basically Concepcion's: it was a bang-bang play, and once a receiver has the ball you're allowed to hit him as long as you don't hit him in the head. Fitzpatrick says the flag was for hitting a defenseless player, not for targeting or head contact. Having the injured player say the same thing on the record is about the best case he could ask for. The facemask fine is a lot harder to fight, though. Pulling a guy's helmet off is not a judgment call.

He also wasn't the only one fined. The league fined 5 other players for player safety fouls from the same week, including Ravens DT Nnamdi Madubuike at $17,911 for a hip-drop tackle. That matters for Concepcion, because Baltimore is the Browns' next opponent. He was still in the concussion protocol midweek after a limited practice Thursday, but he's on track to play.

What to watch: whether Fitzpatrick gets any of the $17,911 back on appeal, and whether Concepcion has a normal Sunday against the Ravens a week after getting knocked out. If Fitzpatrick picks up a third flag in 3 weeks, nobody's going to take the bang-bang argument seriously anymore.