Buffalo Bills safety Sam Franklin Jr. was fined $9,425 by the NFL for a blindside block flagged during Buffalo’s Week 1 win over the Houston Texans.
The latest punishment adds to a growing rap sheet of on-field infractions for the special-teamer, whose disciplinary record now stretches from Carolina to Buffalo across parts of six NFL seasons.
The league’s official Week 1 enforcement report lists the violation as unnecessary roughness, specifically a blindside block, thrown while Franklin worked as a blocker on a punt return during Buffalo’s 36-31 victory over the Texans on Sept. 13.
Bills’ Sam Franklin Jr. Fined for Blindside Block
The flag came in the third quarter, with 13:19 left, on a Houston punt. Kai Kroeger booted the ball 48 yards, and returner Greg Dortch was shoved out of bounds at the Buffalo 36 after an 8-yard runback. Officials flagged Franklin for the illegal block, and the 14-yard penalty pinned Buffalo’s offense at its own 28.
The sequence followed a chop-block call on Houston running back David Montgomery two plays earlier. Franklin atoned somewhat later in the quarter, downing a Buffalo punt at the Houston 4-yard line.
Blindside blocks fall under the NFL’s player-safety enforcement tier. Under the league’s 2026 fine structure, a first offense in that category can be refunded in full if the player avoids further safety violations the rest of the season, according to a breakdown of how NFL fine money gets distributed. A third infraction triggers an automatic one-game suspension.
Sam Franklin Jr.’s Penalty History
Franklin has no other fines listed on the NFL’s 2026 accountability pages, but he’s no stranger to flags. He drew four accepted penalties for 50 yards last season alone, and his career total sits at 18 penalties for 223 yards across stints with Carolina and Buffalo, according to data compiled by NFLPenalties.com.
His off-field record includes a December 2024 incident, when he apologized publicly for a postgame tunnel confrontation with Tampa Bay players following a Panthers overtime loss.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Franklin said, as quoted by Pro Football Talk. No fine from that episode was reported.
Franklin, born Feb. 2, 1996, in Crystal River, Florida, grew up playing wide receiver, safety and linebacker at Citrus High School in Inverness before falling short of academic requirements for UMass and spending a postgraduate year at East Coast Prep in Massachusetts. He landed at Temple, where he played defensive back and linebacker from 2016 to 2019, racking up 194 tackles, eight sacks and two interceptions across 53 games, according to a statistical archive of his college career.
Undrafted in 2020, Franklin spent five seasons with Carolina, appearing in 74 games with nine starts and hauling in a 99-yard pick-six against Minnesota in 2023. He signed with Denver in 2025, got released at final cuts, then landed on Buffalo’s practice squad last August before earning a roster promotion days later. He played all 17 games last season, logging roughly 76% of Buffalo’s special-teams snaps while barely touching the field on defense, according to a scouting breakdown of his 2026 role.
Buffalo rewarded that special-teams production with a three-year deal worth roughly $7 million in February, including about $2.53 million fully guaranteed at signing, according to contract terms published by Over The Cap.
NFL Announces Punishment For Bills $7 Million Safety Over Texans Game Action