Kareem Jackson’s reputation as a dirty player continues to grow – and his bank account keeps taking hits.
The Broncos defensive back will almost certainly be fined for a fifth time in seven weeks after being ejected following a brutal helmet-first hit to Packers tight end Luke Musgrave on Sunday during the Broncos’ 19-17 win.
Jackson, who has now been ejected twice this season, has been fined $89,670 this season, per ESPN.
His latest dirty hit came early in the fourth quarter with the Broncos leading, 16-10.
Musgrave caught a pass from Jordan Love, and when he tried to turn up field Jackson leveled him with a helmet-first smash.
Jackson’s helmet hit both Musgrave’s shoulder and helmet, with the tight end’s head whipping backwards while he fell to the turf.
The referees flagged Jackson for unnecessary roughness on the play, and then ejected him from the game.
Green Bay later scored on the drive to take a 17-16 lead.
CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with the call.
“Even though this is a catch and he gets two feet, even three feet down, this receiver never gets a chance to protect himself, so he’s defenseless,” Steratore said.
“When these plays happen with the level of severity we just witnessed, New York will get involved, take a look at that. New York will weigh in on that and communicate with the officials. If they didn’t deem it to be ejectable, New York can assist them in that. They evidently did on this, and by this severity of the foul I agree with the fact they ejected him on this play.”
Broncos head coach Sean Payton acknowledged that Jackson’s history is working against him.
Jackson previously earned the boot in Week 2 for a hit on Commanders tight end Logan Thomas that resulted in a concussion.
In Week 1, Jackson leveled a vicious hit on Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers.
“I think it’s difficult sometimes – the officials are trying to make these calls, sometimes it’s a little bit easier to see in replay,” Payton said. “One of the challenges for Kareem is he’s got some priors. So when you get pulled over and you’ve had four or five speeding violations, you’re going to spend a little bit more time on the side of the road if you didn’t have any. I wasn’t surprised [at the penalty and the ejection]. I haven’t seen a real good shot of it, but we got to keep finding ways to keep the head out of the main part of the hit.
“He’s smart. He’s someone that wants to do the right thing, so we’ll work on that.”’