While it is well known the NFL is trying to crackdown on blows to the head, rarely do you see defensive linemen being fined for unnecessary roughness against an offensive lineman. But Wednesday morning Brian Price had a FedEx package sitting in his locker, and with it a required $7,500 charitable donation mandated by the NFL. Price was surprised, angered and even a little proud.

“I was real shocked,” Price said. “I had just come from lunch and was pretty happy, had a full stomach. Then I came in here and saw the FedEx and said, ‘Aw man, I got fined for something,’ I thought maybe for my weight. It said $7,500 for unnecessary roughness on a guard. It was pretty cool at first, and then I was kind of mad. I had never heard of unnecessary roughness on a guard before. So I carried it around and showed everybody because I was kind of proud.

"But I’m always going to play the same. Tenacious. It is just how I play."


Price, who doesn’t have a reputation as being a dirty player, didn't specifically mention when the play occurred but did say it was inadvertent.

“I didn’t intend (to hit him in the head),” Price said. “I mean the guy is 6-foot-8, so I wasn’t aiming for his head. I would have had to jump up there. He was practicing the wrong technique and got hit in the head. The old Deacon Jones play. It is what it is.”

The second-year UCLA product joked with the media he is taking donations to help pay for the deemed blow to Falcons guard Garrett Reynolds helmet.

"I'm taking out loans, any loan sharks out there, I need a loan. I'll pay you back. I need another job. I might be sweeping the halls around here. Doing janitor work or something."