San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson has a large stack of manila envelopes in his locker. They are messages from the NFL informing him of all his fines this season, Goldson told San Francisco reporters Thursday.
Goldson said he repeatedly has been fined for uniform violations because his socks and uniform pants failed to meet the NFL code.
Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle passed along word that Goldson estimates he has received roughly $70,000 worth of fines. This sounded odd, so we checked with the NFL. The league confirmed Goldson has been fined for uniform infractions, but it only happened twice. Both violations were regarding his pants. He was fined $5,250 for the first offense and $10,500 for the second.
The $70,000 number comes from other infractions. Goldson said he also has been fined three separate times for hits, including $21,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez last week. Goldson also was fined $7,875 for an unnecessary roughness penalty and $7,875 for taunting earlier this season.
Goldson also was fined $25,000 for a fight with Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Early Doucet last year, according to Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. When you put it all together, Goldson actually has racked up $77,500 in league fines.
"I don't have time to sit there and dictate in the timespan I have as a football player when I'm on the football field to dictate what's a clean and what's a not-so-clean hit," Goldson said Thursday, via The Associated Press. "I'm not a dirty player. And that's just that."
The fines are intended to discourage certain behavior, but that doesn't seem to be working on Goldson.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
