Buffalo Bills safety and special teams captain Sam Franklin Jr. has won his appeal to overturn a one-game suspension the NFL issued for allegedly spitting at an opponent during the Week 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. The suspension has instead been reduced to a fine of $14,926, according to an NFL announcement.
The NFL had announced it would suspend Franklin without pay over a spitting incident said to have occurred on a fourth-quarter extra point try. Franklin denied the allegation and moved quickly to appeal, saying in a social media post that he would always do what it takes to defend himself but had never spit at an opponent.
The ruling came after a second Bills defender, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, was suspended for a high-profile spitting incident in the same game. Gardner-Johnson was disqualified just before halftime after a referee saw him spitting in the direction of Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. Unlike Gardner-Johnson, Franklin was not penalized or ejected in-game, and no publicly available replays clearly show him spitting. Gardner-Johnson's suspension was upheld on appeal.
Franklin is in his second year with the Bills and his seventh NFL season. He has logged six tackles in 2026, all on special teams, including three against the Raiders, matching his best mark since signing with Buffalo. The Bills are on bye this week before facing Baltimore on Nov. 1, while Gardner-Johnson is eligible to return on Nov. 9 for "Monday Night Football" against the Minnesota Vikings.
Source: ESPN NFL · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing