Last night, in Minnesota's 31-24 pre-season win over the Denver Broncos, Vikings' linebacker Erin Henderson picked up a Tim Tebow fumble and ran 35 yards for a score. Now, as a defensive player and a guy that really doesn't play a whole heck of a lot, Henderson had never been in an NFL end zone. (Well, I'm sure that he has, just not with the ball in a live game situation or anything.) So, upon scoring this touchdown, Henderson the Younger took the ball and fired it into the stands at the Metrodome.
This is something that the NFL fines its players for, because it's obvious a bad, bad, awful, terrible thing.
Now, I'm not sure how much the fine for throwing a football in the stands is, though I think I heard Paul Allen say on the broadcast last night that it was about $500. I fully realize that NFL players, even the non-stars like Erin Henderson, make pretty sizable amounts of money, but still. . .$500 is $500. He didn't know it was an offense he could be fined for when he did it, and when he was told this, he came up with a pretty good idea, which he relayed to Chip Scoggins of the Star-Tribune through the magic of Twitter.
I'm not on Jared Allen's paycheck. I think they should start fining by salary.
I, personally, like this idea. A $10,000 fine for the Jared Allens of the world is basically nothing. A $10,000 fine for someone like Erin Henderson is pretty huge. Yes, I realize that all the money collected from fines goes to charity and stuff like that, but still. . .taking that big a chunk out of the salary of a player that makes less than average is probably not the best way to go about things. Heck, our tax percentage is figured every year based on how much we make. . .something like this probably should be, too.
What do you guys think? Do you like Erin Henderson's idea of fining players a percentage of their salary rather than a set amount for everybody, or do you like the NFL's fine system the way it is?