Mac Jones skates free again despite video evidence shared by NY Jets CB Sauce Gardner

NY Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner appeared to share pretty conclusive video evidence of New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones hitting him below the belt in Sunday's game to social media this week.

The NFL, however, seemingly disagrees.

Jones was not fined by the league for alleging grabbing Gardner in his "private parts" during the Jets' Week 3 loss to the Patriots. The NFL insists that there wasn't definitive evidence of Gardner's claim.

Gardner shared a video of the alleged incident on Monday with a caption that read, "Posting this so I don't get fined lol." The video worked in the sense that Gardner wasn't fined for shoving Jones in the aftermath of the event, but it still wasn't enough proof for the NFL to fine the Patriots QB.

What's odd about this is that the NFL seemingly agreed that Gardner's shove was justified. There's no other reason he wouldn't have gotten fined for shoving a quarterback to the ground well after the play was over.

Despite this, they still refused to fine Jones — a player with a lengthy track record of dirty play. There was enough video evidence not to fine Gardner but not enough evidence to fine Jones. The math isn't adding up here.

The NFL probably owes Sauce Gardner and the NY Jets an apology

This is hardly the first time Jones has committed a dirty play during a game. He's been fined in the past, but he's also gotten away with some questionable (at best) acts in the past.

Jones wasn't fined for grabbing and twisting the ankle of Panthers defensive end Brian Burns during a 2021 game. Burns hit Jones on a strip sack from the blind side, and as the Panthers' pass rusher went to get up, Jones held onto and torqued Burns' ankle.

You'd figure that a repeat offender like Jones, who has also been penalized for intentionally spiking an opponent in the groin (among other things), wouldn't get the benefit of the doubt from the NFL — especially when video evidence is presented.

That clearly isn't the case, though. Meanwhile, fines continue to be a hot-topic conversation around the NFL this season. Atlanta Falcons was fined nearly $90,000 — roughly 15 percent of his salary for this season — for a block he made this past weekend. The block in question didn't even result in a penalty.

You have many players each week fined for hits and blocks that don't result in any injuries and have no ill intent behind them. Then you have someone like Jones, who is explicitly committing illegal acts during games and not receiving any repercussions.

The NFL might have to start rethinking its disciplinary policies. Either that, or they should simply enforce the rules fairly.