New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd was reportedly fined more than $4,500 on Wednesday for his hit on Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith.
Boyd was hit with a $4,600 fine over the play, NOLA.com reported.
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Smith caught a pass from Jalen Hurts in the second half when multiple Saints players met him for the tackle, but they initially were not able to bring him down. As they continued to try to get him to the ground, Smith was still churning his legs when Boyd blindsided him in a helmet-to-helmet scene that popped Smith’s helmet off his head.
There was no flag on the play, but it led to accusations of Saints players levying dirty hits. Smith ended up leaving the field on his own power and was placed into concussion protocol.
Boyd defended himself in a since-expired post on his Instagram Stories.
“I would never deliberately try to give someone a serious injury. Just tried to make a play on the ball. (Be) well soon 6,” the post read, via NOLA.com.
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Boyd, a rookie sixth-round draft pick out of Northern Iowa, has one total tackle in three games. He has appeared in 45 snaps on defense so far.
Saints head coach Denis Allen defended his players on Monday.
“I’d say our guys play extremely hard, and we’re going to compete until the down is over,” Allen said, via ESPN. “I don’t think we play dirty. I don’t think we ever have played dirty. It’s not the way we coach it, not the way we teach it, but we do play hard.
“Look, nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody and, unfortunately, that’s part of the business that we’re in. No, we don’t play dirty. We don’t coach dirty, but we do play hard and we do play physical.”
The Saints will hit the road to play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
The Eagles will be on the road as well on Sunday. They play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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