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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fined Josh Freeman five times this season, according to the Tampa Tribune. Three of those fines came last week at $10,410 each, one of them for his interview with ESPN and the other two for missing meetings on Friday.
The other fines were incurred prior to the New York Jets game, with the Tribune noting that the Bucs reduced those fines.
Under rules of the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, the fine for missing the team meal is $10,410 and the fine for missing the team bus is $1,950. Freeman, however, was fined only $2,500 for missing the meal and $1,500 for being late for the team bus, the source said.
Fining players for infractions is generally standard practice, and doesn't bother me too much in light of, well, everything else. Ultimately, this might lead to a suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, but that would be a disastrous PR move at this point and would be fought tooth and nail by Freeman and the NFLPA.
Ira Kaufman has an interesting take on the matter, though.
Contrary to popular belief, the Buccaneers have engaged in less media manipulation than the Josh Freeman camp in the past month. Far less.
— Ira Kaufman (@IKaufmanTBO) October 3, 2013
Obviously, the leaks regarding the team booting Freeman from his suite are coming from Freeman's camp and he did agree to do the ESPN interview, though he didn't say anything particularly interesting or damaging to the Bucs. It's significantly harder to determine whether the leaks damaging Josh Freeman are coming from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.