New England coach Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 as part of the offseason practice violations that also cost the Patriots two days of organized team activities, the Boston Sports Journal reported Thursday.
The culprit: Joe Judge. Citing documents, Boston Sports Journal reported that Judge held special teams meetings that kept players at the Patriots’ facility longer than the four-hour maximum.
Judge held workshops on May 1-2 and May 4 and “directed special teams players to be at the Club’s facility longer than the maximum of four hours permitted during Phase Two of the Club’s program,” per the Journal, citing the docs. That made the meetings mandatory vs. optional, per the report.
The NFLPA filed a complaint with the league days later.
The Patriots canceled Thursday’s OTA and will nix another one next week, per the punishment.
