Whoever thought it was a good idea to have the Super Bowl teams hold joint practices probably didn’t have player safety at the top of their list.
Today the Rams and the Bengals became the latest teams to join the trend of fighting at joint practices. If you look closely you can see Aaron Donald swinging two Cincinnati helmets around like some kind of medieval warrior.
Deleted video of Aaron Donald swinging a helmet at bengals players. pic.twitter.com/dHCAGN8Bby
— Not Jake 🥷🏻 (@CincyHub) August 25, 2022
One person who wasn’t surprised by the brawl was former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who’s transitioning to an announcing career. Sherman says literally everyone could have predicted this.
Who could have predicted a superbowl rematch “joint” practice would be emotional and lead to chaos? Everyone. https://t.co/SWdnYbIG1j
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) August 25, 2022
As for discipline, fans shouldn’t expect to see Donald get any significant punishment. Much like the American justice system, the NFL’s punishments are capricious at best, especially when it comes to star players.
Moreover, the league itself likely won’t be involved in arbitrating this one, as Tom Pelissero pointed out.
Clubs — not the NFL — are responsible for overseeing conduct of players at practice, including joint practices. So fair to say league discipline for Aaron Donald (or anyone else) in today's brouhaha is unlikely. https://t.co/VfmDycxBKh
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 25, 2022
The Rams don’t have much incentive to suspend the best player on the planet, so at most we’ll probably see a slap on the wrist type of fine for No. 99.
It’s probably worth mentioning that this isn’t the first or the second or the third time that Donald has been involved in dirty behavior on the field. Anyway, as we’ve all learned everything will be just fine when you allow bad actors to escape justice for obvious malfeasance.
