EL SEGUNDO, Calif — The NFL fined Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart for slapping Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in the Chargers’ 27-21 Week 1 win in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a source told ESPN.
According to NFL rules, the fine for a first offense of striking is $12,172. The NFL announces fines on Saturday afternoon.
After a play in the third quarter, Kelce shoved Tart, and Tart responded by slapping Kelce’s helmet, drawing a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. According to rules analyst Terry McAulay on the YouTube broadcast, Tart wasn’t ejected because he made open-hand contact, which doesn’t rise to the level of a disqualifying action. A closed fist, or punch, would have gotten Tart ejected.
Tart signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Chargers in the offseason, and the team paid him a $2 million bonus ahead of offseason activities. Tart also receives a $58,000 bonus — on top of his guaranteed salary — for each regular-season game he is active.
Kansas City coach Andy Reid told reporters Monday that he was confused about why Tart wasn’t ejected.
“I don’t understand that rule,” Reid said Monday. “I guess it’s open-hand, fist, whatever, I don’t know. I don’t know what their decision was on that. But he definitely got hit in the head pretty hard, whether it was an open fist or a closed fist.”
In the aftermath of the slap, Tart took to Instagram with an apparent jab at Kelce and his new fiancée, singer Taylor Swift. Tart posted a collage of pictures, including a video that included a movie clip of a man slapping another with his hands coated in a white powder. Tart’s caption read: “I’m too swift with it even in Brazil.” In response to the post, commenters flooded Tart’s Instagram account with racist images.
The Chargers play the Chiefs again in Week 15 (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
