NFL Fines 49ers Fullback Kyle Juszczyk $16K for Blocking with Helmet

This is a bit of a surprise.
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA;  San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) dives for a touchdown  as Arizona Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson (34) defends in the second half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) dives for a touchdown as Arizona Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson (34) defends in the second half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
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This is a bit of a surprise.

Today, the NFL fined San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk $16,619 for leading with his helmet while making a block against linebacker Mack Wilson during the first quarter of the 49ers' 47-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The officials did not throw a flag on Juszczyk on the play, which means the league watched the film and fined Juszczyk retroactively.

This was the second time the NFL fined Juszczyk this season. The first time, he had to cough up $11,817 for making a low block against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Once again, officials didn't penalize Juszczyk for this play. Someone in the league office is watching Juszczyk awfully closely.

Juszczyk recently was named a second-team All Pro. He finished this season with 226 yards from scrimmage, which is 35 yards fewer than his career average. He will turn 34 in April and his salary cap number will be nearly $6.5 million.

Last year, the 49ers made Juszczyk take a pay cut which reduced his cap number in 2024 to $3.6 million. It seems likely that the 49ers will make Juszczyk take another pay cut this offseason considering he's entering the final season of his contract and he has no guaranteed money left on his deal. If he refuses to take the pay cut, they can release him and create almost $3 million in cap space.

I'm guessing Juszczyk will take the pay cut. What other option does he have?

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.