ThreeSportStar80
Benched
- Messages
- 27,093
- Reaction score
- 0
Porter's punch costs him equivalent of 3 game checks
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: July 20, 2007, 5:46 PM ET
Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter has been fined $141,176, the equivalent of three game checks, by the NFL for his role in a March altercation in which he punched Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones at a Las Vegas blackjack table.
Porter, 30, pleaded guilty on May 30 to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from the incident.
The $141,176 fine, first reported by NFL.com and confirmed by league sources, is one of the biggest in NFL history. It represents three-seventeenths of Porter's scheduled base salary of $800,000 for the 2007 season. But it does mean that Porter, who signed a five-year, $32 million contract with the Dolphins after he was released by Pittsburgh this spring, will avoid a suspension.
Dolphins coach Cam Cameron said Porter met with him shortly afterward and apologized. Cameron said the league and team would not punish Porter further, despite NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's recent crackdown on player misbehavior.
"It's over. He has been fined and it's over, and I think he's learned from it," Cameron said at a charity golf tournament.
It is not known if Porter has or will appeal the fine.
An eight-year veteran, Porter had played his entire career with the Steelers before he was released in a salary cap-related move. The loquacious linebacker, one of the best outside pass rushers in the league from a 3-4 alignment, has 461 tackles, 60 sacks, 18 forced fumbles and seven recoveries in 122 games.
Senior writer Len Pasquarelli covers the NFL for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2943394
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: July 20, 2007, 5:46 PM ET
Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter has been fined $141,176, the equivalent of three game checks, by the NFL for his role in a March altercation in which he punched Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones at a Las Vegas blackjack table.
Porter, 30, pleaded guilty on May 30 to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from the incident.
The $141,176 fine, first reported by NFL.com and confirmed by league sources, is one of the biggest in NFL history. It represents three-seventeenths of Porter's scheduled base salary of $800,000 for the 2007 season. But it does mean that Porter, who signed a five-year, $32 million contract with the Dolphins after he was released by Pittsburgh this spring, will avoid a suspension.
Dolphins coach Cam Cameron said Porter met with him shortly afterward and apologized. Cameron said the league and team would not punish Porter further, despite NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's recent crackdown on player misbehavior.
"It's over. He has been fined and it's over, and I think he's learned from it," Cameron said at a charity golf tournament.
It is not known if Porter has or will appeal the fine.
An eight-year veteran, Porter had played his entire career with the Steelers before he was released in a salary cap-related move. The loquacious linebacker, one of the best outside pass rushers in the league from a 3-4 alignment, has 461 tackles, 60 sacks, 18 forced fumbles and seven recoveries in 122 games.
Senior writer Len Pasquarelli covers the NFL for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2943394
