USA Today
The NFL fined San Francisco 49ers safety George Odum $5,305 for a uniform violation, telling him that his knee was exposed during a preseason game against the Vikings. Odum says that’s nonsense.
Odum tweeted a picture of himself with his pants properly covering his knees and his socks properly pulled up, and said despite that, the NFL is fining him.
“So I got fined 5k,” Odum wrote. “Yeah The NFL something else’s. Talking about my knees NOT covered. Where?”
Despite Odum’s photographic evidence that his knee was covered, the NFL claimed otherwise in its fine letter.
“During the San Francisco 49ers-Minnesota Vikings game on August 20, 2022, you were in violation of the NFL Uniform and Equipment Rules,” the NFL’s letter said. “Specifically, your pants failed to cover the knee area. Rule 5, Section 4, Article 3, Item (4) of the 2022 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League states that pants must be worn over the entire knee area; pants shortened or rolled up to meet the stockings above the knee are prohibited.”
So why did the NFL fine Odum despite his photographic evidence? It’s possible that in another point of the game Odum had his knee exposed. But it’s also possible that this was a case of mistaken identity: Odum’s photo shows another 49ers player standing behind him who had his knee exposed. It’s not clear in the picture who the player was, but that player might have been mistaken for Odum, and Odum might have been given a teammate’s fine.