Teair Tart, a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers, has been fined by the NFL following an incident during the team’s 27-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a result of that action, Tart was fined for smacking Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce’s helmet. This dumb decision led to a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty in action during the game.
Tart signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Chargers during the offseason. He negotiated a $2 million signing bonus paid before the start of offseason activities. Each regular-season game that he’s active, he earns a $58,000 bonus for being so. Despite the marginal slap on Kelce’s helmet, Tart interestingly enough was not ejected from the match. NFL rules analyst Terry McAulay further clarified that the open-hand contact was not enough to warrant disqualification.
After an intense few moments of physicality on the field, Kelce at first pushed Tart. Tart immediately responded with a wide open-handed slap. Even Kansas City coach Andy Reid echoed the bewilderment on the decision to allow Tart to continue to play. Further, he wanted to know how that action didn’t warrant an ejection.
“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.” – Andy Reid
In the wake of the incident, Tart took to Instagram to share a collage of images, including a video clip depicting a humorous slap while featuring his own caption: “I’m too swift with it even in Brazil.” His post built tremendous buzz with compelling storytelling. What made this situation unique was his searing replies to comments that contained racist imagery.
Tart’s behavior on social media is questionable, to be sure, but the timing and context make this particularly egregious. His apparent jab at Kelce and his new fiancée, singer Taylor Swift, may fuel ongoing discussions about sportsmanship and decorum among players.
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