The NFL has fined Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman $5,000 for wearing patriotic cleats in last Sunday’s home game against the Green Bay Packers.
NFL fined Josh Norman $5,000 for wearing his red white and blue cleats last weekend. He is appealing. pic.twitter.com/F5fEJzJUsP
— Joe Person (@josephperson) November 12, 2015
Norman said that he was fined by the NFL not for the red, white and blue color scheme of the cleats, but for the “proud, brave” message he had inscribed on the shoes. He plans to appeal the ruling.
“They got me for the wording that was on the side of it. I can’t have any words,” Norman said via The Charlotte Observer. “It is what it is.”
Norman explained he wore the cleats as part of Carolina’s “Salute to Service” game and admitted he expected to receive a fine.
He plans on auctioning off the cleats online and donating the proceeds that the cleats draw to the military troops at Fort Jackson and the Army training base in North and South Carolina.