Buffalo Bills among least-fined teams in 2022

According to a recent report, the Buffalo Bills were the third-least fined team in 2022, paying just $20,387 in league assigned fines over the past season.

In a report compiled by Gambling.com, the Bills came in just above the Chicago Bears who were fined $14,993 and the Arizona Cardinals who paid the league-lowest fines at $10,609.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Pittsburgh Steelers led the league by paying $196,480, thanks in part to T.J. Watt and Myles Jack who were each fined $13,621 for making obscene gestures mid-game.

The Denver Broncos weren’t far behind the Steelers, racking up $187,565 in penalties – including a $50,000 fine levied against linebacker Randy Gregory for his part in an on-field fight. The only other teams in six-figure fines were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($135,905) and the Cincinnati Bengals ($118,959).

The Dallas Cowboys rounded out the top five most-penalized teams last season, thanks in part to a notable fine assessed to quarterback Dak Prescott for an “overly enthusiastic celebration.” The Cowboys totaled up $95,500 in penalties in 2022.

Gambling.com also looked at the past five years to find which teams seem to push the limits of the rules and have paid the price the most.

The Las Vegas Raiders headlined that list with a total of $1,934,927 in fines, thanks to a $1,163,786 fine in 2019 that was given to Vontaze Burfict after he head-butted tight end Jack Doyle of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Cleveland Browns had a massive $1,139,911 receipt for fines from an on-field fight in 2019 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The majority of that fine was due to Myles Garrett ripping the helmet off of one of his opponents and then proceeding to use it as a weapon against Steelers’ quarterback Mason Rudolph. Thanks to that large-ticket item, the Browns were the second-most fined team over the past five years, paying in a total of $1,841,502 since 2018.

The New York Jets weren’t involved in many major on-field scuffles that resulted in huge penalties, but still managed to wind up the third-most fined team over the past five years. Why? Because they penalized their own player — guard Kelechi Osemele — for every practice he missed. Osemele was missing practice because doctors said that he had a shoulder injury that required surgery, but the Jets disagreed with the diagnosis.

The Pittsburgh Steelers amassed $795,857 in fines over the last five years, thanks mostly to their part in the 2019 fight with the Cleveland Browns. Maurkice Pouncey earned the biggest fine after he got between Garret and Rudolph and then proceeded to punch Garrett multiple times. (I mean, Garrett was beating his quarterback with a helmet, so no judgement there, right?)

Wrapping up the top-five most-fined teams over the past five years are the Cincinnati Bengals. Offensive tackle Cordy Glenn was fined $200,000 for refusing to practice because he self-diagnosed himself with a concussion and got into a confrontation with a member of the Bengals’ coaching staff. Cincinnati accumulated a total of $741,457 fines since 2018.

While the Bills didn’t make the top 10 teams in the amount of fines paid in — a sign that despite players being chippy at times, they manage to keep their conduct between the margins of the rule book — it is interesting to note that the Arizona Cardinals were not fined at all in 2019.