NFL fines DeAngelo Williams for raising breast cancer awareness during breast cancer awareness month
We’ve covered DeAngelo Williams and Cameron Heyward’s battle with the NFL over the Pittsburgh Steelers teammates’ crusade against cancer in great detail in this space, and last we heard the parties seemed to have an understanding with the league over what players can and cannot do to raise cancer awareness.
As with many things in the NFL, though, a handshake agreement isn’t worth much.
According to the NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala, Williams’ eye black featured “We will find a cure” and the breast cancer ribbon during breast cancer awareness month, and the league fined him $5,757 for supporting a cause near and dear to his heart. Earlier in October, the NFL denied Williams’ request to wear pink all season in hopes of continuing to raise awareness about a disease that took his mother in May 2014.
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Oh, it gets more bizarre. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Williams hasn’t just been wearing “find the cure” eye black this October; he’s been sporting it for going on five years now, and this marks his first fine. Ironically, his first fine for raising breast cancer awareness comes during breast cancer awareness month.
Of course, the NFL also fined Heyward twice this month for writing “IRON” and “HEAD” on his eye black in honor of his father, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who died from brain cancer at age 39 in 2006, so maybe the league was just trying to keep its terribly insensitive uniform policy consistent with respect to Williams.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
