The NFL fined Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon $25,000 for comments he didn’t make about the officiating in the Texans’ divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Mixon’s agent said Wednesday night. Then, according to Mixon and his agent Peter Schaffer, the league reissued the fine to Mixon later in the day for his actual postgame comments after he pointed out the original error.
Mixon posted about the situation on X on Wednesday afternoon, saying he was “getting fined by the (NFL) for what someone else said.”
A few hours later, he posted on the platform again, sharing a new development: “So let me get this straight NFL fines me 25k for something I didn’t even say. Call them out for it, and (their) response was fine me AGAIN for something that’s not even a violation without even rescinding the first one. Where’s the accountability? Just respect the players.”
Mixon was asked in the locker room about the officiating after the Saturday contest, in which the referees made multiple controversial calls against the Texans’ defense for hits to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Everybody knows how it is playing up here,” Mixon told reporters postgame. “You can never leave it into the refs’ hands. The whole world sees, man, what it is, bro. But it is what it is.”
According to Schaffer, the NFL said Mixon was fined for “critical remarks to the media” in which he “called into question the integrity” of the officials, but Schaffer said the league originally referred to a quote Mixon didn’t make, citing a comment that was instead from T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver wrote on social media Saturday: “Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with the Chiefs. These officials are (trash) & bias.”
Schaffer said the league originally attributed that comment to Mixon in issuing its fine. Later, after Mixon pointed out the error on social media, Schaffer said he received another message from the league with the same fine but citing a different quote — the comment Mixon made about leaving it “into the refs’ hands.”
Schaffer said he’s operating like the league expects Mixon to pay two separate $25,000 fines and that he appealed both. The league did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.
“They didn’t say in this (second) letter, we hereby rescind the original letter. They just said, here’s another letter. So now we have two letters, two fines, for two different quotes. One he didn’t say. One he doesn’t publicly criticize the officiating (by) the game officials. He’s criticizing his own players,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer added that he would “fight it” and “take it to the mat” if necessary.
“I will defend Joe’s rights and then we’ll take all legal recourse after,” Schaffer said, though he wasn’t sure what the next steps in the process would be if the fines are upheld, calling it a “novel fact pattern.”
Required reading
(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
