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Vontaze Burfict played one of his worst games of his career against the Broncos this past Sunday, and now he has something to remember the poor performance by.
The NFL is fining Burfict for $53,482 for his helmet to helmet collision he caused with Broncos’ fullback Andy Janovich, per Ian Rapaport. The hit was as loud as it was probably painful for Janovich.
The sound of the collision between #Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict and #Broncos FB Andy Janovich. pic.twitter.com/4sryGbLr5Z
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) December 2, 2018
This is the second time this year that Burfict has been fined for unnecessary roughness and lowering his helmet to initiate contact. The first incident occurred back in October when Burfict and the Bengals played the Steelers and Burfict lowered his head on multiple tackle attempts against wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back James Conner.
Burfict was fined for $112,000 for those two offenses, and this latest fine matches the average of those two. In total, Burfict has now been fined for over $4.2 million in his seven years in the league. For reference, Burfict has accrued just over $32 million in career earnings.
The NFL can fine and suspend Burfict all they want at this point, it’s unlikely that Burfict will ever change his playing style. Some would say he has and it’s made him a worse player. If he can’t adapt like the rest of the league, then the fines and blooper reels will keep rolling in.