Broncos Reserve Linebacker Jerrol Garcia-Williams Fined $20,054 For Roughing Penalty vs. Bears

(247 SPORTS) - Jerrol Garcia-Williams' wallet just took a massive hit.

The Denver Broncos' reserve linebacker on Friday was fined $20,054 by the NFL for his roughing the passer penalty in last week's exhibition loss to the Chicago Bears. His infraction occurred in the third quarter, when referee John Parry determined Garcia-Williams illegally tagged Bears quarterback Chase Daniel on a 3rd-and-6.

The fine -- which can be appealed -- is especially costly for Garcia-Williams, a bubble player making only $555,000 this season, if he sticks around on the 53-man roster.

It is also an indictment on the current refereeing landscape, which has come under fire following the league's controversial helmet rule. An inexplicable total of 28 penalties for 293 yards were announced in preseason game, with Denver and Chicago racking up 14 apiece. The contest took nearly three-and-a-half hours to complete, slowed to a crawl by trigger-happy Parry and his crew.

"I'm hopeful it won't look like that [in the regular season]," Broncos coach Vance Joseph said after the team's 24-23 loss. "Obviously right now, they're throwing penalties that. If it's close, they're throwing it. I get it. It's preseason. They want to change the behavior. That happens every preseason, but it seems like it's more this preseason. So hopefully, Week 1 starts, it kind of calms down a little bit. Both teams had [14] penalties for 144 [plus] yards. These games are going to be all night. Hopefully it calms down some. It usually does Week 1."

Parry called a little bit of everything: offensive and defensive pass interference, procedural infractions, holding, personal fouls. He also, naturally, enforced the helmet rule, which prohibits any contact initiated head-first. The Broncos were flagged after rookie cornerback Isaac Yiadom went low to bring down Bears tight end Adam Shaheen on the game's opening series.

It was a bang-bang play; Yiadom didn't intentionally target Shaheen's knees, nor did he lead with the crown of his helmet. It was a form tackle that is now going extinct, sadly.

Taking to Twitter, Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe spoke out in support of his teammate, who was not fined for the tackle, while strongly calling out the league.

"These penalties are getting ridiculous," Wolfe wrote. "Tough to take someone to the ground without landing on them, whipping them down, grazing their head or hitting their legs. This is a tough game for tough people."

This is the second time in as many weeks a Broncos player was docked. Safeties Justin Simmons and Shamarko Thomas were each fined $26,739 for illegal hits during Denver's preseason-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings.