Detroit Lions May Face NFL Fines Following Bad Player Conduct

The Detroit Lions have watched during the off-season as running back Mikel Leshoure was arrested for marijuana possession and Nick Fairley was arrested on two separate occasions for drunk driving and marijuana possession and now the franchise under NFL rules may face fines of its own.

NFL rules state that when two players are suspended for violations in the same season for performance-enhancing drugs, substances of abuse or personal conduct the NFL franchise involved must remit a portion of their salary to the league.

With both Mikel Leshoure and Nick Fairley are suspended even for one game a piece the Detroit Lions will be required to submit 25 percent of their respective base salaries per game up to $200,000. In the meantime the players would not be paid for missed play, leaving the Detroit Lions to pay for their stupid mistakes.

Nick Fairley will earn $48,500 per game in 2012 while Leshoure earns $27,350, that means the Detroit Lions could face fines up to $75,850 in fines per game if both players serve suspensions at the same time.

When asked about the penalties on Tuesday Lions head coach Jim Schwartz told FoxSports:

“Obviously, we’re going to use every tool we have to be able to handle that but the league also has ways that they can address. From this standpoint, we’ve never had an incident we haven’t addressed through every means that we can. We don’t gloss over any or things like that. The league getting involved is generally things that are under their jurisdiction. I don’t know any other way to answer that one.”

Any money collected from the Detroit Lions would go towards supporting the NFL’s steroid and drug policies and to the Player Care Foundation, player development programs and other research into injury and other issues faced by NFL players.