Falcons penalized for violating offseason workout contact rules
The NFL announced Thursday the Atlanta Falcons will forfeit their first three days of organized team activities next year for a May violation of the joint NFL-NFL Players Association rules regarding excessive contact in offseason workouts.
The league said Falcons players will still be paid for the cancelled sessions.
In September, the Seattle Seahawks were fined $400,000 dollars, docked their first week of organized team activities in 2017 and stripped of next year's fifth-round draft pick for being repeat violators of the excessive contact rules.
This was the Falcons' first offense. In an unrelated infraction, the Falcons were fined $350,000 and stripped of their 2016 fifth-round draft pick for pumping in artificial crowd noise during 2013 and 2014 home games.
"We take player safety very seriously and work hard to ensure that we are in compliance with league rules," the Falcons wrote in a statement. "Although we are disappointed in the penalty, we respect the league's decision."
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