Texans Player Fined For Gnarly Facemask Penalty On Malik Cunningham

When Malik Cunningham’s helmet went flying off his head last week, with it went a chunk of cash from Jacobi Francis’ bank account.

The NFL on Saturday fined Francis $4,833 for the gnarly facemask penalty he committed on Cunningham during the Texans’ preseason win over the Patriots, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. The play occurred during the fourth quarter when Francis, a bottom-of-the-roster special teamer for Houston, was attempting to tackle a scrambling Cunningham.

Here are two videos of the play:

Cunningham laughed off the incident during a postgame media scrum.

“That was crazy,” said Cunningham, who’s attempting to earn a roster spot in New England as either a quarterback or receiver.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick later praised Cunningham’s toughness when asked about the play.

“Yeah, I think Malik’s a tough kid,” Belichick said. “He showed that at Louisville, and as a receiver, he’s different than at quarterback. But, he’s had to block, go in and make tough catches in traffic and things like that. No, I think his toughness and competitiveness is good. You saw that in college, and we’ve seen it in the time that he’s been here.”

Cunningham and the rest of the Patriots will visit the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night in their second preseason game. We still don’t know whether the Louisville product will see quarterback reps, but we do have a clearer picture of whether Mac Jones will play.