Ravens fined for misuse of communication devices during preseason

The Ravens have been fined for violating the NFL’s coach-to-player communications policy during the preseason.
According to NFL Network, the organization was fined $200,000 due to multiple Ravens players wearing coach-to-player communication transmitters in their helmets while on the field simultaneously. Only one player on the field is permitted to wear a transmitter in his helmet during games.
The announcement comes a few months after the Ravens forfeited two days of organized team activities and head coach John Harbaugh and the organization were fined for violating offseason rules in June. It was the third time in nine years the organization had forfeited OTA sessions because of violations.
“The Ravens’ equipment staff misunderstood that this league rule applied in the preseason,” the organization said in a statement on Wednesday. “Ravens coaches were unaware that multiple players had communication devices in their helmets while on the field at the same time.”
The previous OTA violations were more problematic since the structure of spring workouts are collectively bargained and bending those rules could be viewed as a threat to player safety, but it’s difficult to get too worked up over a preseason-related violation beyond it being a bad look on the heels of other missteps. If the Ravens were really attempting to gain a competitive advantage in games that didn’t even count, that would be more pathetic than nefarious, which should leave one to believe this was more an issue of negligence.
Of course, a violation like this occurring in the regular season would be a much greater problem warranting more serious consequences.