Dre Kirkpatrick being fined more than Haloti Ngata is ridiculous

The Bengals are expecting big things from cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick in his third NFL season. Though he missed a good chunk of the preseason due to a hip injury and a stomach virus, Dre has played in the past two preseason games, including Week 3 vs. the Arizona Cardinals

That game saw Kirkpatrick annihilate Ted Ginn Jr. on punt coverage. Though he believed it was clean, Kirkpatrick was still hit with a fine from the NFL. He was fined $22,050 for unnecessary roughness, a league source told ESPN's Ed Werder.

Per Spotrac, Kirkpatrick will make $2,351,726 in 2014. That means this fine will be roughly 1% of his '14 salary, so it's not exactly a strict fine.

However, when you consider Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata was only fined $8,268 for kicking Redskins lineman Shaun Lauvao, there seems to be an imbalance.

To sum it up, Kirkpatrick was fined nearly triple what Ngata got, even though Kirkpatrick's hit was between the whistles and was "debatable" as to whether he was actually targeting Ginn's helmet, whereas Ngata's kick came after the play was over, and was against a defenseless player on the ground.

Oh, and there's the fact that Ngata makes $18 million in 2014, meaning his fine is just .01% of his '14 salary.

That seems fair, right?