San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks has been fined $15,750 ($9,800) by the NFL.
Brooks has been penalised by the league following his hit to the neck on New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees during the 49ers' loss on Sunday night.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport tweeted on Wednesday that Brooks received the standard fine for a first-time offender after the league reviewed the play on the personal-foul.
NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino told Tuesday's edition of NFL Total Access: "You can't make forcible contact to the head or the neck area, even if the contact starts below the neck and rises up.
"If there's force to that contact, it's a foul. Watch the initial contact, maybe around the shoulder, but it rides up into the neck area and brings the quarterback down with force."
Brooks is to appeal his fine, though Brees himself said on Tuesday that the hit was "illegal" and that he could taste blood when he stood up following the play.
Joe McPhee
