PITTSBURGH — Despite incurring a second massive fine for unnecessary roughness this season, Steelers running back Jaylen Warren said he’s not going to change how he blocks.
“I mean, it sucks because that’s so much money,” Warren said. “But I don’t let it alter my play. If … I don’t know if I should say this, but if I was in the same situation, I’m still doing what I’m going to do. It’s what got me on the team.”
Warren, who signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent following training camp in 2022, was fined $48,556 for blocking Los Angeles Rams outside linebacker Michael Hoecht in pass protection.
“I got two fines last year, and I’m still doing it this year,” Warren said, adding the NFL factors in his past discipline in calculating this year’s fines. “OK. And I mean, it’s kind of hard. I don’t know how I’m supposed to hit dudes that’s like 350 pounds and two feet taller than me. I can’t stand my ground and kind of punch ’em. They’re going to run me over. So I try to enforce the hitting, again to the point where it’s costing me.”
Added Warren: “There’s clips where I’ve seen dudes doing stuff intentionally worse, and they’re not even getting fined half of what I’m getting fined.”
Hoecht is listed at 6-5, 310 pounds, while Warren is 5-8, 215 pounds.
Warren signed a three-year, $2.57 million contract that pays him $870,000 this season. The fines, he said, cost him nearly two game checks.
“That’s hella money,” Warren said. “That’s so much money. If I got fined $2,000, I’d be pissed, too. But $50,000 is crazy. That’s a whole car. That’s money I could be giving my family.”
Warren said he would support a fine structure that fined players on percentage of salaries to keep him from losing such a significant amount of his check.
“I was talking to one of the coaches and they’re saying that same thing,” Warren said of his steep penalties. “I get fined the same that dudes like T.J. [Watt] would get fined. I get fined the same amount of money.”
Earlier this season, Warren was fined the same amount for unnecessary roughness for illegally using his helmet to fend off Cleveland Browns safety Juan Thornhill and pick up extra yards at the end of a run. Warren appealed the fine and it was reduced by $9,000.
“I mean it got reduced down to from $48,000 to $39,000, if you want to call that a win. I call that a loss.”