NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is targeting certain players for fines and pocketing the money, if you ask if you ask Carolina Panthers safety Mike Mitchell. The ex-Raider received his fifth fine of the year for taunting Rams quarterback Sam Bradford after the signal caller went down with a season-ending injury on Oct. 20, ESPN reports.
"Roger being Roger, I guess," Mitchell said of his latest fine, via ESPN. "To be honest, I think there is a little bit of a targeting system they have out. I think I'm one of the guys they'd been looking for, but I'm OK with that."
Asked where he thought the fines went, Mitchell answered: "Right in Roger's pocket. Right in his pocket. ...Right in his pocket is where it's going."
Mitchell said he's been fined more than 10 times since being drafted in 2009 by the Oakland Raiders. He wasn't shy about why the league was targeting him, either.
"I'm just being targeted because I play football and am physical," Mitchell said. "I'm not out here cheap-shotting guys or doing dirty plays like you've seen people from Detroit do. I'm not going to name any names, but I'm not out here doing those things, so why I'm getting fined I have no idea.
"I'm going to keep playing my game. It's working for our defense. As long as I'm not getting penalties, then I'm fine with this."
Mitchell said two of his fines came on plays in which he wasn't penalized, including the shove out of bounds that resulted in Bradford's knee injury.
The league considered Mitchell to be taunting after the safety stood with his arms spread open, seemingly unaware of Bradford's injury. Mitchell's actions earned him a $7,875 fine from the NFL, pushing his season-total to nearly $45,000 in fines.
