Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker has been disciplined by the NFL for a hit on Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson in Week 8.

As noted by The Ringer's Tom Pelissero, the league has handed down a fine of $17,911 to Brisker for the blow he delivered to Watson on the Browns' first drive of the game.

Brisker was tagged with a roughing the passer penalty as a result, which temporarily extended the series for Cleveland on what otherwise would have been a three-and-out.

Pittsburgh ultimately forced a fumble several plays later, however, and went on to blow out the Browns by a score of 27-6 to move to 6-2 heading into its Week 9 bye.

Brisker's Hit Resulted in Watson Going Into Concussion Protocol

Watson finished out the remainder of the contest after briefly being pulled for three plays immediately following Brisker's hit.

Shedeur Sanders entered in Watson's place for that span of time while the latter was evaluated.

Watson was then cleared to return, and he was sacked a total of eight times by the Steelers while completing 27 of his 39 passing attempts for 324 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

The 31-year-old was later evaluated after the game as well as early in the week before self-reporting concussion symptoms to Cleveland on November 3.

Watson landed in the concussion protocol from there and has been cleared ahead of the Browns' Week 9 bout vs. the New Orleans Saints.

Regardless, Watson is questionable to play while Sanders will get the start for Cleveland in a contest that has significant ramifications for Pittsburgh considering the Browns sit just a game behind it for first place in the AFC North at 5-3.

Brisker's First Year in Pittsburgh

A Pittsburgh native who played his college ball at Penn State, Brisker joined his hometown team as a free agent this past offseason on what was viewed as a surprising cheap one-year, $5.5 million deal at the time.

Brisker had been a staple of the Chicago Bears' secondary for the first four seasons of his career, starting all 52 games he appeared in while recording 342 tackles, seven sacks and four interceptions.

Part of the reason why he didn't command a larger deal and thus came at an extreme discount for Pittsburgh were his concussion concerns, as he suffered three with the Bears and missed all but five contests in 2024 as a result.

Though Brisker suffered an injury during training camp that kept him off the field for several weeks, he returned in time for the start of the regular season and has played in all eight of the Steelers' games up to this point.

The 27-year-old has been on the field for 99.8 percent of the team's defensive snaps (per Pro Football Reference), which comes out to a total of 507 and is tied with both Jalen Ramsey and Patrick Queen for the team lead.

Brisker's had an up-and-down season, as he's missed eight tackles and allowed 156 yards in coverage over 15 catches on 20 targets (per Pro Football Focus).

He does have an interception to his name, though, and is third on the team in total tackles with 51.