NFL docks Carolina Panthers CB Josh Norman $5,000 for patriotic message on cleats | Charlotte Observer

Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman’s salute to the troops will cost him several thousand bucks.

When Norman wore his custom, red-white-and-blue cleats in Sunday’s victory over Green Bay for the Panthers’ Salute to Service game, he predicted the NFL would fine him. The league didn’t disappoint, docking Norman $5,000, he said Thursday.

Norman said the issue wasn’t a color scheme that was different than the Panthers’ primary colors, but the fact that the Adidas cleats were emblazoned with the words, “proud, brave.”

“They got me for the wording that was on the side of it. I can’t have any words,” Norman said. “It is what it is.”

Norman said he’s appealing the decision.

The NFL fined Norman $11,000 for wearing silver cleats at Minnesota last season. He said the fine was reduced by half on appeal.

Norman plans to auction off the patriotic cleats online and donate the money to the troops at Fort Jackson, the Army training base in Columbia.

“Just give back to them and give them some hope and let them know we care about them and we love them as well,” Norman said. “That’s what I can do.”