Jamaal Williams fined more for dancing than Packers LB for shoving athletic trainer

The NFL’s fining system is inconsistent, prioritizes the wrong things, and is flat out embarrassing.

The NFL handed down fines for the final regular season game of the season, and the Detroit Lions have one more thing to get mad about.

Lions running back Jamaal Williams was once again fined for dancing following a touchdown. Back in Week 3, Williams was fined $13,315.25 for swaying his hips following a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings. After a similar celebration last week against the Green Bay Packers, Williams was fined again, this time bumping up the expense to $18,566 for a second-time offense.

Of course, it’s ridiculous in the first place to be fining Williams for something so innocuous as this:

But what really highlights the NFL’s completely misguided fining policy is the fact that a much more serious offense in the same game was given a lesser fine.

Packers linebacker Quay Walker shoved a Lions athletic trainer in the middle of the game after the medical professional nudged him aside to attend to Lions running back D’Andre Swift. Walker was flagged for the play and ejected from the game, but his fine from the NFL was only $13,261.

I understand that Williams was a two-time offender, but this wasn’t Walker’s first incident, either. In Week 8, Walker was ejected from the Packers’ game after shoving a Bills practice squad player on the sideline.

To his credit, Walker did offer a public apology and reportedly reached out to the Lions trainer to personally apologize. Still, this is clearly a much more serious offense than a harmless dance.

To make matter worse, Packers defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt was not fined at all, despite standing up to the athletic trainer and chest bumping him—nor was Jarrad Reed for this hit on Lions running back D’Andre Swift:

The NFL just doesn’t get it.

That said, Green Bay cornerback Rasul Douglas was fined ($11,139) for the odd sequence of him stopping a Lions long snap and then shoving Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper in the face.