Sam Franklin Jr. will be in uniform when the Bills come back from their bye. On Friday, Oct. 23, his one-game suspension for allegedly spitting at a Raiders player was knocked down to a $14,926 fine after he appealed, according to an NFL announcement reported by NFL.com.
The league handed down the original ban Wednesday. It said Franklin broke its sportsmanship rules by spitting at an opponent after a Las Vegas extra-point try with 1:32 left in Buffalo’s 33-30 Week 6 win, the Associated Press reported. The NFL didn’t release video or further detail. Franklin wasn’t flagged or ejected on the play, and TSN noted that no publicly available replay clearly shows him spitting.
Franklin denied it from the start and filed his appeal within hours. His agent, Harold Lewis, told the AP, “We adamantly deny Sam spit on anyone.” Franklin also posted a short Instagram video that, per the AP, shows Raiders offensive lineman Delmar Glaze appearing to hit him below the waist on that same extra point. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo shared footage of the shoving match between the two after the kick.
Franklin is a special teams captain in his second season with Buffalo and his seventh in the league. All six of his tackles this year have come on special teams, and he made three of them against the Raiders, per TSN.
Teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson didn’t get the same break. The starting safety was ejected just before halftime of that game after an official saw him spit toward Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, and his one-game suspension was upheld on appeal. He’ll sit out the Nov. 1 home game against the Baltimore Ravens and is eligible to return Nov. 9 against the Minnesota Vikings on “Monday Night Football.”
The 5-1 Bills are off this week. Franklin is set to play when they return in Week 8, Pro Football Talk reported.
Why it matters
Buffalo gets a core special teamer back for a big home date with Baltimore, though it still plays that game without a starting safety. The bigger story, to be honest, is the process. Two players from the same team were accused of the same thing in the same game and landed in different places. Gardner-Johnson was seen by an official and tossed on the spot. Franklin was never flagged, and no clear replay has surfaced publicly. At the same time, the league has every reason to come down hard on spitting. McGraw Media’s read is simple: if the NFL wants these suspensions to stick, it should show its work when it announces them, not leave a player to argue his case with an Instagram clip.
This story was drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked by McGraw Media.
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