JJ Watt slams NFL for fining Texans RB Joe Mixon over wrong comments
Joe Mixon was fined $25,000 by the NFL over a tweet made by a former NFL player.
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JJ Watt and Joe Mixon (Image Credits: L-via IMAGO, R-via Open Source)
The NFL earned an estimated $13 billion in revenue from operations in 2023, yet that amount is not good enough. It is important for them to take money out of players’ pockets by imposing fines for disciplinary violations. Even if it is for a statement that a player did not make.
For Houston Texans’ running back Joe Mixon, he has had a rough experience with the league’s fining system. He was hit with a $25,000 fine after the Texans lost their Divisional Round game to the Kansas City Chiefs. His offense? His alleged controversial statement.
“Everybody knows how it is playing up here. You can never leave it into the refs’ hands. The whole world sees, man.” This statement put the integrity of the officiating crew in question.
However, that was not all. The ‘No Fun League’ mistook a statement made by former NFL player T.J. Houshmandzadeh via X as being made by Joe Mixon. “Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are trash and bias,” the former player had said. However, the misunderstanding happened after Sports Illustrated posted an article whose headline was structured in a way that made it seem like Mixon was the one calling out the officials. But that was not the case.
JJ Watt comes to Joe Mixon’s defense
The notice that Mixon received featured his original statement and the tweet made by T.J. Houshmandzadeh, which is irrelevant in this case. Former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt took objection to the league fining Mixon for standing up for himself.
This has not received enough attention…He got fined for something he didn’t say. Publicly complained about it (correctly). Then got fined for that. What are we doing here?
JJ Watt wrote
This has not received enough attention…
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) January 24, 2025
He got fined for something he didn’t say.
Publicly complained about it (correctly).
Then got fined for that.
What are we doing here? https://t.co/JcPssBjocx
Mixon attempted to shed clarity on the situation by proving he was not the one who called the referees ‘trash and biased.’ However, the NFL’s reaction to this was to fine him once again rather than to correct themselves and rescind the first fine. For a league that claims to be working towards making the lives of its players better, their actions surely seem contrary to their statements.
Peter Schaffer, the agent of Joe Mixon clarified via The Athletic that the running back now owes $50,000 to the NFL. He received two separate notices. The first for the initial comments and the second for his response clarifying his stance. Schaffer and Mixon will appeal the fines and hope to have one of the two fines rescinded.
Related: Lions WR Jameson Williams fined $25,325 for celebration labeled ‘Obscene Gesture’
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Sumedh Joshi
(2271 Articles Published)