Ravens S Kyle Hamilton fined $20,524 for illegal hit
The NFL dropped the hammer on Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton. The young star was fined $20,524 for an illegal hit that occurred in the Ravens’ win against the Tennessee Titans in London, per Tom Pelissero.
In that game against Tennessee, Kyle Hamilton was called for unnecessary roughness and ejected for a hit that he made on Chris Moore of Tennessee. After the hit, Moore was staggered and ended up going into the locker room because of the hit. Ultimately, it was ruled that he had a concussion.
It was the third quarter of the game when Kyle Hamilton was ejected. The Titans were already down and trying to come back when quarterback Ryan Tannehill looked for Chris Moore on a seam route. Hamilton, looking to break up a potential touchdown, made the play but did so with a helmet-to-helmet shot.
“Heat of the moment. I wish I could take it back right now. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody’s feelings or anything,” Hamilton said. “I don’t have really any quarrels with the call itself, but obviously, I just don’t want to be ejected. But, at the end of the day, the story is not about me.”
It wasn’t an easy play to avoid that helmet contact. Moore was falling to the ground already when Hamilton made the contact. So, Hamilton likely was aiming for a shot at his midsection. However, that’s not what ended up happening and the massive hit was to Moore’s temple, instead. The NFL, looking to protect players, especially from head injuries, unsurprisingly took action.
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, however, says that the ejection came from the league and not the officials on the field.
“It was helmet contact, so I understood the flag,” Harbaugh said. “The ejection wasn’t explained to me on the field. [The officials] didn’t know on the field. So it came from New York, I guess. [The NFL] will have to explain to us why. That’s not something we’ve seen before. That’s a new one as far as I’m concerned.”
Kyle Hamilton was a first round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame. There, he established himself as an elite player who plays fast and hard, and he had his fair share of massive hits, but he was never considered a dirty player. As a rookie in 2022, he broke out as one of the best young defensive backs in the NFL, with 62 total tackles on the season.
NFL fines Odell Beckham Jr, Jeffery Simmons for near-fight in Ravens-Titans game
Kyle Hamilton wasn’t the only player fined because of the Tennessee-Baltimore game. The NFL also fined Odell Beckham Jr. and Jeffery Simmons for a near-fight in the game. Beckham, actually, managed to get fined twice.
Beckham was fined $21,844 and $11,473 for two separate issues. Simmons also was fined $11,473 for the fight he and Beckham nearly started.