Julian Edelman took a hit to the wallet recently when the NFL reportedly fined him $63,504 for three different unnecessary roughness penalties during the New England Patriots’ Week 16 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Edelman was hit with two fines for illegal crackback blocks and one for signaling for a fair catch on a punt and then blocking Bills’ Siran Neal.
After the fines were announced, noted Patriots hater Shannon Sharpe took to Twitter to blast Edelman, calling the Kent State product a “dirty player.”
Julian Edelman has been fined over 63k dollars for 3 separate unnecessary roughness penalties against Buffalo last Sunday. I’ve said on numerous occasions for yrs. He’s a dirty player. Being small and white gets you labeled gritty, hard nosed, tough. No he’s dirty.
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) December 30, 2018
A couple former Patriots didn’t take kindly to Sharpe’s tweet, as Donte Stallworth and Matt Chatham fired back at the FOX Sports analyst.
He catches passes, but also enjoys the physical part of the game…seeks contact. You caught a ton of balls, but shied away from contact. You wouldn’t understand. That you’d resort to weak, terrible analysis…very understandable. https://t.co/kbbYp5aB30
— Matt Chatham (@chatham58) December 30, 2018
I agree with this: “Being small and white gets you labeled gritty, hard nosed, tough.” But I don’t agree that he is a dirty player. A dirty player, in *my definition, is someone who intentionally tries to hurt/injure other players. That is not Julian. https://t.co/5jiqT5PqAW
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) December 30, 2018
Sharpe defended his stance, noting that Edelman is known for his penchant for crackback blocks.
IF* you know crack bck blocks are illegal, yet you continuously do them, what’s that? https://t.co/u2R7msJCNi
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) December 30, 2018
Edelman reportedly will appeal the fines as they totaled more than 40 percent of his weekly salary.
