Ask Farmer: When a player is fined, where does the money go?

Have a question about the NFL? Ask Times NFL writer Sam Farmer, and he will answer as many as he can online and in the Sunday editions of the newspaper throughout the season. Email questions to:

sam.farmer@latimes.com

When a player is fined, where does the money go?

Michael Hanrahan, Los Angeles

Farmer: It goes to charities mutually agreed upon by the NFL and the NFL Players Assn.

Writes league spokesman Michael Signora: “Money collected from player fines is donated through the NFL Foundation to various programs, including those to assist former players, via the NFL Player Care Foundation and the NFLPA’s Players Assistance Trust.” Players are paid their salaries in the form of 17 paychecks over the course of the regular season. When fined by the league, they are informed of where that money is going.

According to Spotrac.com, 120 players were fined a total of $2,720,069 last season. Seattle safety Kam Chancellor racked up a huge chunk of that amount ($1,110,000) when he held out of training camp and beyond because of a contract dispute. The biggest on-field fine — $69,454 — was levied against Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict for unsportsmanlike conduct. Several players were slapped with the smallest fine, $5,787, either for uniform violations or throwing a football into the stands.

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What does it mean when a player is deactivated, as was the case with Rams rookie Jared Goff?

Robert Parra, Rowland Heights

Farmer: Teams can carry 53 players on their roster, and can activate 46 for game day, leaving seven players deactivated. Usually, a player is deactivated because he’s injured. But sometimes, as in Goff’s case, coaches might not feel he can contribute as much as others. Teams are required to submit their “inactive” list no later than 90 minutes before kickoff.

Players on the inactive list are prohibited from participating in game-day warmups with their teams for all preseason, regular season, and postseason games, except the Super Bowl. They are also prohibited from dressing in game uniforms on game days. Inactives may represent their teams in pregame ceremonies as captains and may be in the bench area during the game, provided they dress in clothing issued by the club to its game staff and display appropriate bench area credentials.

Before 2011, the NFL had an “emergency third quarterback” rule that stipulated the game-day roster was 45 players, but teams could designate a player to be the third quarterback. However, if that player entered as a quarterback before the fourth quarter, the Nos. 1 and 2 quarterbacks could not reenter. The NFL eventually dumped that rule and expanded the game-day roster to 46.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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