One of the Cincinnati Bengals’ all-time greats apparently doesn’t think too highly of one of their current stars.
In an interview with Jim Rome, former Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason said that linebacker Vontaze Burfict should be suspended for two games for his hit on Ben Roethlisberger, and he didn’t mince words in doing so.
“My own personal opinion is that Vontaze Burfict should be suspended for at least two games…This guy has a history, there are issues with him. One of the reasons why he fell in the draft was because teams knew there was going to be issues with him, and when you do that on the field of play, where you legitimately try to hurt an opposing teams quarterback, and you know I’m a former Cincinnati Bengal, but that doesn’t mean I’m asking for guys to do stupid things on the field to hurt another player.”
The video of the play only helps make Esiason’s point.
How could this hit by Vontaze Burfict not be a penalty. Watch this cheap shot as he targets Ben's ankle pic.twitter.com/O4ZcT1FC5m
— Charlie Batch (@CharlieBatch16) December 13, 2015
As bad as that looks, if this was his first incident, a suspension wouldn’t be warranted. Unfortunately, as Esiason said, this is far from his first incident.
In 2013, Burfict was fined a total $31,000 for two separate incidents in a game against the Packers. A year later, he received a $25,000 fine for twisting Greg Olsen’s ankles. It was initially reported that the NFL would have Burfict on watch for the future.
“Burfict has been warned that he’s considered a repeat offender subject to escalating discipline and that any future incidents of this kind will result in his being summoned to the league office,” a source told ESPN’s Ed Werder in 2014.
After some confusion, Burfict has been fined for the hit on Roethlisberger, which means that in just over two year’s time, Burfict has now been fined for four separate incidents in three games. When you include the regular season and playoffs, Burfict has played in only 27 games in that window.
That’s troubling, and it’s a sign that further action needs to be taken by the NFL’s front office.
Football is a tough sport and players are going to get hurt. But that doesn’t mean that anything goes. Burfict’s been fined before and apparently, that message hasn’t been strong enough. The next step the NFL must take is to suspend him and if they don’t, they’re dropping the ball.