The 2023 Super Bowl is now a full week in the past — but that hasn’t stopped the NFL from following through on fines.
A day after Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson’s fine was reported by NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, he announced a second disciplinary act on the Kansas City Chiefs side.
Pelissero informed: “It wasn’t just C.J. Gardner-Johnson: The NFL also fined Chiefs TE Jody Fortson $4,383 for unnecessary roughness — lowering the helmet to initiate contact with the head in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVII. No flag was thrown.”
Eagles’ Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Sounds Off on NFL
Fortson has yet to comment on his $4,383 fine publicly, but Gardner-Johnson was less quiet about his $14,111 fee.
Tell me why I got fined from the hit in Super Bowl 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
“Tell me why I got fined from the hit in Super Bowl 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂,” the Eagles defensive back voiced on Twitter after the news. Pelissero also confirmed that he plans to appeal that ruling by the commissioner’s office.
We’ll see if Fortson takes a similar approach, although his penalty is about $10,000 less.
The fan favorite former UDFA settled into his TE3 role in 2022, behind Travis Kelce and Noah Gray. He finished with more than double his production in 2021, with 108 receiving yards and six first downs compared to 47 and three the year before. The red zone threat also had the same number of touchdowns this season as the last one, with two in each.
The Chiefs won the Super Bowl this year in part because of all of their depth and role player talent, and Fortson is the perfect example of that. The popular tight end may catch one pass a game at most, but it’s usually a big one, and he also provides an impact on special teams with 181 ST snaps compared to 184 on offense.
Fortson is an exclusive-rights free agent in 2023, and is expected to re-sign.
Eagles’ Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Gets in Social Media Beef With Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
Gardner-Johnson has been in the news a few times since the big game. The vocal DB got into it with Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Twitter after he insulted Eagles cornerback James Bradberry.
“School boys acting gangsta …..” Gardner-Johnson first replied at Smith-Schuster.
Then, in a second tweet that went viral, the Eagles DB voiced: “JuJu ran from me when I check him in game 🥱🥱🥱 then 10 got his smoke. 🤮” Gardner-Johnson is referring to the hit on Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco, saying that Smith-Schuster missed a block — or avoided it altogether.
This piece of trash talk did get the Kansas City wideout’s attention, and he wrote back, “yea 🤣🤣 I went to the sideline to call him,” with a video of WR Javon Wims punching Gardner-Johnson during his New Orleans Saints days.
Smith-Schuster then responded a second time to the same tweet, adding: “Big [cap] 🧢, also I told you in the game to stop all that talkin because we were gonna come back and win that game. Now help me decide which finger I need to get sized for this ring. 🤣🤣”
Every single one of these tweets from both parties has since gone viral, and something tells me that the Chiefs-Eagles grudge match could end up being a lot fierier than the original. The two franchises do play each other in 2023, as the NFL’s extra game just so happened to add a home matchup versus Philadelphia on the schedule.
The hard-hitting defender of the Eagles, Gardner-Johnson, could end up playing a leading role if he remains with the franchise in 2023. He’s currently set to hit free agency this March.
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Chiefs Fan Favorite Fined by NFL 6 Days After Super Bowl: Report