Raven Country

Ravens Star Loses Most of Paycheck to Brutal Fine

The Baltimore Ravens' top cornerback saw most of his game check vanish in the blink of an eye.

Jon Alfano

Jan 19, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) runs the ball against Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey (44) during the second quarter in a 2025 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Jan 19, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) runs the ball against Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey (44) during the second quarter in a 2025 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
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The NFL can be a cruel business, as Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey recently found out the hard way.

On Saturday, Humphrey received a massive fine of $45,020 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen near the end of the first half of last week's Divisional Round loss. It's Humphrey's second fine for a helmet-to-helmet hit this season, as he was previously fined $22,511 after a Week 10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Losing that much money is bad enough in a vacuum, but it's even worse in context.

As CBS Sports' John Breech pointed out, Humphrey lost over 80 percent of his $54,500 paycheck for this game (82.6 percent to be exact) because of this one fine.

"During the 2024 season, Humphrey had a base salary of $11.75 million, which means he was paid nearly $653,000 per week during the regular season," Breech wrote. "However, during the playoffs, everyone on the roster makes the exact same amount in their game check, and for the divisional round, each Ravens player made $54,500.

"With the NFL collecting $45,020 of that total, that means that Humphrey will be handing over 82.6% of his paycheck."

As Breech also noted, Humphrey received the largest fine of the Divisional Round by far. The second-largest fine went to Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams, who lost $25,325 for an obscene gesture while celebrating a touchdown. No other player was fined more than $17,000.

Humphrey, who represents himself without an agent, apparently found out about the fine via social media, and he certainly had some thoughts about the situation.

"$480 to play in a NFL football game is wild," Humphrey wrote. "Probably going to be $232 after taxes."

It's not clear where Humphrey got those numbers from, but it's understandable why he's not happy about it regardless.

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Jon Alfano
JON ALFANO

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