After striking a Cincinnati Bengals player over the head with a helmet on Thursday afternoon, will Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald get suspended?
Maybe wait a few years before holding a joint practice between last February’s Super Bowl participants.
In a practice likely to spark tensions between the champion Los Angeles Rams and runner-up Cincinnati Bengals, a brawl erupted on Thursday. The result was a melee which included All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald swinging a Bengals helmet at an opposing player and apparently striking him.
Of course, the big question coming out of the fracas is whether Donald should, and will, be suspended. The incident was similar to a Week 11 fight during the 2019 season, when Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett hit Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph over the head with his own helmet in the closing minutes of a Thursday Night Football game.
Will Aaron Donald be suspended for swinging a helmet at another player?
However, there are a few differences between what happened with Donald, and what took place with Garrett.
For starters, Garrett hit a player who wasn’t wearing a helmet. It also happened during a regular-season game, and a primetime event at that. The entire football world was watching the ugliness unfold.
In Donald’s case, the fight took place during practices, a place the NFL hasn’t typically sanctioned players for fights. Additionally, the player Donald appears to strike it wearing a helmet, so thankfully, there wasn’t an injury. Finally, although the clip will circulate for days, the violence didn’t happen on national television. From the league office’s standpoint, that’s going to factor in, fair or not.
While Donald could be suspended, the guess here is he walks away with a turn talking to.
