As fans and readers know by now, the Kansas City Chiefs were the subject of an NFL conspiracy theory in 2024 — as opposing fans accused referees of rigging games in their favor in order to help them advance to the Super Bowl.

At times, the league’s somewhat sensitive approach to dealing with this storyline only strengthened the narrative. For example, when the NFL fined Houston Texans stars Joe Mixon and Will Anderson Jr. for postgame comments that were thought to be critical of the officiating following the Divisional Round of the playoffs, fans were not happy.

And neither were Mixon and Anderson, who made it clear that they would be appealing the $25,000 fines.

On February 18, those fines were officially overturned and rescinded, per multiple sources including KPRC 2 NFL insider Aaron Wilson, ESPN Texans reporter DJ Bien-Aime and NFL insider Dianna Russini (The Athletic).

“Both Joe Mixon and Will Anderson win their appeals of a $25K fine for criticizing officiating after the Texans’ playoff loss to the Chiefs, per source,” Russini reported on X.

Wilson and Bien-Aime also shared a screenshot of Mixon’s official letter from NFL hearing officer Chris Palmer, which read:

During the appeal hearing, you stated what you meant by your statements referring to the officials. As you know, statements can be interpreted differently by every individual and it seems like you clearly understand the weight and detriment of public criticism towards officials can be, given how impactful your platform is as a player, which I appreciate.

Integrity of the game and its officials is the responsibility of everyone involved in the NFL. After reviewing the totality of the evidence. I find that you did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials. Accordingly for the reasons set forth above, the NFL will rescind the $25,000 fine amount.

Reviewing Comments of Texans’ Joe Mixon & Will Anderson Jr. Following Chiefs Playoff Matchup

Anderson’s comments were a little more obvious than Mixon’s, but apparently the rising star edge rusher received his money back too — adding up to $50,000 in overturned fines.

“We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game,” Anderson told reporters while speaking at his locker on January 18 after the Texans fell to the Chiefs.

Mixon hinted at something similar, but did not go quite as far.

“Everybody know how it is, playing up here [at Arrowhead Stadium],” the veteran running back said on January 18. “You can never leave it into the refs’ hands. But, I mean, the whole world see what it is, bro. It is what it is… It’s all good, though.”

Later, Mixon was also publicly critical of the NFL’s decision to fine him, especially since they initially stated that they penalized him for a social media post from former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“I’m getting fined by the @nfl for what someone else said,” Mixon wrote on X at the time. “What’s next? I get fined by them for Connor McDavid cross checking an opponent [in] a @nhl game! 🤦🏽‍♂️”

Continuing in a follow-up post: “So let me get this straight NFL fines me 25k for something I didn’t even say. Call them out for it, and they response was fine me AGAIN for something that’s not even a violation without even rescinding the first one. Where’s the accountability? Just respect the players. Cold 🌎.”

It’s unclear if Mixon was fined multiple times for this interaction, or if the original $25,000 fine was just updated with the correct quote.