For the second time in three months, the Baltimore Ravens are being punished for violating an NFL rule, and this time around, it’s going to cost them some serious money.
The Ravens announced on Wednesday that they’ve been fined $200,000 for violating the league’s coach-to-player communications policy during the 2018 preseason. Under NFL rules, only one player on the field is allowed to have coach-to-player capabilities in their helmet, and during the preseason there were apparently several instances where the Ravens had multiple players with coach-to-player communication technology installed in their helmets.
According to the Ravens, the team only broke the rule because they didn’t know that it was actually a rule during the preseason.
“The Ravens’ equipment staff misunderstood that this league rule applied in the preseason,” the team said in a statement. “Ravens coaches were unaware that multiple players had communication devices in their helmets while on the field at the same time.”
Including this $200,000 fine, the Ravens have now been handed a total of $350,000 over to the NFL this year. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti ($100,000) and coach John Harbaugh ($50,000) were both fined back in June after the team was found to be in violation of the CBA’s offseason workout rules. The Ravens also had to forfeit two OTA practices as part of their punishment.
The Ravens were also hit with a similar OTA punishment in 2016. After violating NFL rules, they had to forfeit three OTA practices and they were also fined just over $480,000 total for the incident, including a $137,223 fine that was paid by Harbaugh.