Chargers Safety Eric Weddle Fined For Watching His Daughter Perform At Halftime

After being placed on injured reserve and handed a $10,000 fine, safety Eric Weddle is almost definitely leaving the Chargers this offseason.

During Week 15’s game against the Miami Dolphins, Weddle remained on the sideline to watch his daughter dance on the field at halftime without informing the team. That decision cost him $10,000. He was also placed on injured reserve, ending his season, and told he couldn’t travel with the team to their final game in Denver because there was no room on the plane.

That saga will almost guarantee that Weddle will hit the open market; the three-time Pro Bowler will be a free agent at the end of this season.

Chargers head coach Mike McCoy confirmed that the safety was disciplined for violating team rules.

“We have a policy here, and a situation took place two weeks ago at our stadium. So yes, we did fine him,” he said. “It’s an organizational call.  We have a club policy here, and there are certain things we have to do as a football team at halftime to make adjustments, and things like that. That’s why we did that.”

Veteran tight end Antonio Gates also keyed on Weddle’s lack of communication. “I’m not really surprised (that he was fined),” the tight end said.

“To me, the communication wasn’t there, and I think that was more important than anything.  Obviously anything you do, whoever has played in this league understands there is no one person above the team. With all that being said, that was his daughter. That’s just not my call. That is something the coaches and he should have had a conversation about, and that should have been made from that point on. From my understanding, there was no conversation about it.  It’s very hard to make any assumptions about that because it was not obviously in the best (interest) of the team, and you are talking about a first class guy who due to that circumstance was put into a dilemma to make a decision at the last second.”

Weddle’s agent, David Cantor, made his feelings known on Twitter.

Photo: Chargers safety Eric Weddle by Jeffery Bealle, via Wikimedia Commons

Article by Joe Kozlowski