According to Telvin Smith himself, the Jacksonville Jaguars have fined the veteran linebacker for missing mandatory minicamp. He revealed the news on Instagram by sharing the email sent to him by the team, which shows a fine total of $88,650.
Smith captioned the bottom of the post by voicing his displeasure with the fine, but also stated that he still has love for the franchise.
“Oh y’all thght it was a game!!! You say you wanna sit & get ya life right. . . they say nah [intentionally misspelled expletive] you pay me!!! It’s still love!!”
With Smith not being classified as retired and there being a chance he could potentially come back, the Jags have elected to keep him on the roster, which most would agree is the right thing to do despite him declaring he won’t play. That also makes it fair game to fine him, especially being that he reportedly hasn’t informed the team of his intentions.
Smith was drafted by the Jags in the fifth-round of the 2014 NFL Draft (No. 144 overall) out of Florida State University. While with the team, he was a tackling machine racking up a career total of 586 tackles over the course of six seasons. His ability to make tackles around and behind the line of scrimmage earned him a new four-year, $45.05 million extension in October of 2017, and he’s set to make $9.75 million in base salary this upcoming season.
