NFL suspends Vontaze Burfict 3 games for hit on Antonio Brown
The NFL has seen enough of Vontaze Burfict’s rough play.
The league levied a three-game suspension on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals linebacker for “repeated violations of safety-related playing rules,” the NFL said in a statement.
Merton Hanks, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, issued the suspension that will begin in Week 1 of the 2016 season.
The Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday in the wild-card round against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh rallied in large part to an illegal hit Burfict delivered on Antonio Brown. The penalty, coupled with an unsportsmanlike call on Adam Jones, gave the Steelers a chip-shot field goal to win it.
Burfict can appeal, but here’s what it’ll cost him if it’s upheld, according to ESPN’s Field Yates:
Burfict went undrafted. When you see him making plays for the Cincinnati Bengals most Sundays, that seems crazy. But then there are moments when everyone can understand why it happened.
Burfict was once considered a top-10 pick, but by the time his final season at Arizona State ended, his draft stock had plummeted. There were off-field issues and a bad performance at the scouting combine. He told CBS Sports he “beat up” a college teammate, though he says the teammate started it. He admitted to teams he smoked marijuana. He was benched for personal fouls in Arizona State’s 2011 regular-season finale, and didn’t start in the Sun Devils’ bowl game but still got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. You won’t see many players with Burfict’s talent, unless there’s an injury or lingering legal issue, go entirely undrafted.
Burfict became one of the NFL’s best linebackers after not being drafted, and made the Pro Bowl in 2013. There are stretches like the second half Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers in which he can take over a game. And there are times when he’s out of control.
Burfict’s 15-yard penalty for his illegal hit on Brown has been discussed often since Saturday night. It probably cost the Bengals their first playoff win in 25 years. And Steelers All-Pro guard David DeCastro accused Burfict of spitting on him.
DeCastro told 93.7 The Fan that Burfict spit on him during Saturday’s game. There was a play in which DeCastro drove Burfict to the ground after the whistle. Since Saturday, others on social media were happy to point out Burfict’s other seemingly dirty plays.
Baltimore Ravens guard John Urschel pointed out another bad Burfict hit:
A vine isolated Burfict’s sack on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, which injured Roethlisberger’s shoulder, that seemed to show Burfict driving his knee into Roethlisberger’s shoulder while he was on the ground.
Oh, but that’s not all.
Burfict has a long history of fines for dirty play. This season, he was fined about $34,000 for diving at Roethlisberger’s legs, and racked up about $70,000 total from three violations in that game. In 2014, he was fined $25,000 for twisting the ankles of Carolina Panthers players Cam Newton and Greg Olsen after plays. In 2013 Burfict was fined $21,000 for an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver, the Packers’ James Jones, and fined $10,000 for hitting Packers tight end Ryan Taylor in the groin in the same game. He was fined $21,000 later in the 2013 season for going after New York Jets receiver Stephen Hill’s head on a hit.
There have been many feel-good redemption stories written about Burfict since he went undrafted and became a good player for the Bengals, but it’s hard to take them seriously when you see some of his actions on the field.
Bell was injured by Burfict on a legal hit earlier this season, but the Steelers weren’t happy with Burfict’s reaction to the injury. That led to a scuffle before a Dec. 13 game. Burfict came off the bench to be in the middle of another near-fight at midfield after Giovani Bernard was knocked out in Saturday’s loss.
None of Burfict’s dirty plays cost Cincinnati a playoff game though, until it happened on Saturday night. Earlier in the game, CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson said Burfict was out of control on the sideline and the coaches were trying to calm him down. So maybe it shouldn’t be a huge surprise he took that game-changing penalty with his unnecessary head shot on Brown.
PODCAST: Wrapping up the wild-card weekend:
Grandstanding: A Yahoo Sports podcast
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed
– – – – – – –
Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
