The New England Patriots lost against Tennessee in their last bout. The battle at the Nissan Stadium didn’t only end on a sad note for the Boston team. But it also added more to their troubles. You see, the officials charged Patriots DE Keion White with a horseshoe tackle in the game, and the NFL has finally revealed its verdict on it.

It’s fining season in the NFL, whether it’s an $11k fine on Bosa for wearing a MAGA hat on live TV or a fine on Raheem Mostert for unnecessary roughness. The case of the Patriot’s DE is no different. However, the good thing is, that he’s still in Bill Belichick’s good books. A Pats reporter just uploaded a video of White’s tackle and some more details about it.

Mike Kadlick, a Pats’ reporter for CLNS Media took to X and uploaded a video. He captioned it as “#Patriots DE Keion White was fined $22,511 for unnecessary roughness on this horse-collar tackle of Titans RB Tony Pollard.” The video shows Keion White gripping the back of Tony Pollard’s collar. And the refs were quick enough to penalize him.

Yikes! That $22.5k fine seems very hefty. Coming back to the game, the Patriots DE got away with 4 total tackles and 3 solo tackles against the Titans. But that performance might be irrelevant right now because White is in heaps of trouble. This season, he has faced three fines, two of which were for horse collar tackles. Subsequently, he’ll have to pay an outstanding amount of $42,183.

People are really confused about what constitutes a horse collar tackle. So, here’s what the NFL definition of the illegal tackle is, “No player shall grab the inside collar of the back or the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, or grab the jersey at the name plate or above, and pull the runner toward the ground. This does not apply to a runner who is in the tackle box or to a quarterback who is in the pocket.”

White seems to have a knack for getting carried away. In the game against the Dolphins, officials charged him with a horse collar tackle and roughing the passer. He received a $19,672 fine for each of his transgressions. But this hasn’t deterred the Pats’ DE from slowing down. Check out what he said about being charged with all these fines.

“I’m going to still be aggressive regardless,” White said back in October. “You get penalties in football. I don’t really stress it.” Perhaps this unmatched resolve is the reason why he’s in Bill Belichick’s good books.

Bill Belichick has been eyeing Keion White

The 8X Super Bowl-winning coach has been making his own list of mid-season All-Stars. And this time, he’s focusing on rookie and sophomore defensive players. In a recent episode of Coach released on November 7, 2024, Coach Belichick focused on defensive ends and outside linebackers in the league. His list? Will Anderson Jr., Laiatu Latu, Jared Verse, and Keion White.

The Pats DE has shown an exponential improvement this year. 9 games in, White already has 22 solo tackles and 4 sacks. He has also forced two fumbles. That’s why Michael Lombardi and former Lions HC Matt Patricia, who joined Belichick, were impressed by White’s “sneaky production.” But this is what Belichick thinks of White.

“Yeah, Keion White can for sure move down in there. Rush from the three-technique and you know, the diamond and the bare front the teams are playing so, there’s some real versatility here as well as just great, solid production and these guys are just going to get better,” Bill Belichick said on the COACH podcast.

Coming back to Keion White and his fines, he thinks people are quick to criticize any sort of aggressiveness that garners a penalty. He accepts all the good and bad that come with playing in an aggressive manner. He won’t budge from his stance and will keep playing like he’s been playing.