The New England Patriots are receiving further penalties for violating offseason rules that cost them two days of organized teams activities.
Head coach Bill Belichick received a $50,000 fine for the team's violation, Boston Sports Journal's Greg Bedard reported Thursday.
The violation that the Patriots committed was also revealed on Thursday. Joe Judge kept offensive and defensive players for longer than the maximum four hours allowed, a document obtained by Boston Sports Journal alleged. The document cites Judge as a special teams coach and that he held a special teams meeting that went longer than it should've been in Phase Two of the offseason program.
Bill Belichick fined, Joe Judge at heart of offseason rules violation
Judge scheduled 20-minute meetings that caused offense and defense players to be at the facility longer than their maximum four hours.https://t.co/hpf0YWovHl— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) May 25, 2023
The Patriots told the league that the meetings weren't mandatory and attendance wasn't taken, according to ESPN's Mike Reiss. Still, the NFLPA filed a formal complaint against the Patriots on May 4 for violating a section of the collective bargaining agreement that states players can't be at the team's facilities for longer than four hours during Phase 2 of the offseason program, Reiss reported.
First news of the violations broke last Wednesday night hours after the team announced that they were canceling Thursday's organized team activities. That was noteworthy because it was the first day that media availability was allowed for Patriots' organized team activities this offseason.
The other day of organized team activities that were canceled was the one scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday.
This week began Phase 3 of the offseason program, which marks the start of organized team activities. The Patriots previously had 10 scheduled organized team activity sessions prior to the mandatory minicamp, which runs from June 12-14.
A handful of teams have been violated for violating offseason rules over the last few seasons, including the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders, and Houston Texans last offseason.
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