AP

Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie says he can’t afford the $21,000 fine the NFL gave him for a hit on Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich last week.

“Twenty-one thousand. I ain’t even got that,” Rodgers-Cromartie said with a chuckle.

Fortunately for Rodgers-Cromartie, he doesn’t have to have the $21,000 on him. It will be deducted from future paychecks.

Rodgers-Cromartie has insisted that there was nothing dirty about his hit on Leftwich, but he also conceded today that he needs to learn from it to avoid such fines in the future.

“I won’t hit him no more, I’ll tell you that much,” Rodgers-Cromartie said. “It’s not even a vicious hit . . . shoot, he got up right from it. I mean, I’ll say I left my feet. I can understand that. I can understand a fine coming. . . . I wouldn’t do it again. In place, you never know. It’s football. You have to keep playing. Play through it.”

Unless he wants to play for free, Rodgers-Cromartie has to find a way to keep playing without delivering hits like the one on Leftwich.