Vontaze Burfict’s Suspension Inducing Hit Shows ‘Lack Of Human Regard’

INDIANAPOLIS – Oakland Raiders Vontaze Burfict may have played his last snap in the NFL. The well-known “dirty” player may have finally crossed the line after his vicious hit against Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle.

The hit forced the NFL to suspend Burfict for the remainder of the 2019 season. The dirty play is beyond reprehensible, according to Alex Kirry and Scott Mitchell of KSL’s UnRivaled.

Doyle was clearly down when Burfict came in and speared him with a helmet-to-helmet hit.

What makes it even worse is that Burfict left the field blowing kisses to the crowd on his way to the locker room after being kicked out.

This is far from the first time he has been in trouble for unsportsmanlike hits. Including this current suspension, Burfict will have been sidelined for 1.5 seasons and fined approximately $5 million in salary that he will never get back.

Vontaze Burfict has now been suspended four times for a total of 22 games, costing him $4,622,182 in salary and been fined nine other times totaling $411,064. Over $5M lost for unacceptable on-field actions.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 30, 2019

Burfict Lacks Respect

There are some non-malicious hits that can lead to a targeting call, ejection, a fine, and a suspension; however, the majority of Burfict’s hits seem to fall into another category. It seems like he wants to inflict as much pain as possible, according to the UnRivaled duo.

Mitchell is a former NFL quarterback and understands that hits happen and players play hard but what Burfict has been doing and did on Sunday obliterates the line between playing tough and playing dirty.

“I am all about playing hard. It is a lack of human regard. I am someone who is all about playing hard and finishing and playing the game the right way. When you do this and do it on a regular basis, it is a lack of respect for how great the game of football,” Mitchell said on KSL’s UnRivaled. “All of these people are good and all of these people belong here, and for you act like you have some superiority over other them and have a total disregard for this is so egregious and so foul to me, I think [the suspension] should be longer.”

It seems that Burfict was intentional in the hit and his style of play should be nowhere near an NFL field. The league is having a public perception issue with big hits and concussions causing people to turn away from the game.

This type of hit is a big black eye on the NFL and something needs to be done long term with Burfict’s career, according to Mitchell’s co-host.

“There is really a blatant disregard and an ‘I don’t care about anyone and anything else’ [from Burfict]. When the NFL is looking so much for this public relations bonus and benefit… this situation gives it a bad name and is terrible,” Mitchell said. “There is no way he is not aware of what was happening, he can’t say, ‘I was trying to play hard.’ He had an intent of trying to hurt the tight end.”

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Burfict lacks respect for the sport of football and it is costing him a lot and maybe this major suspension clues him in on what he is doing that is wrong. However, if he were never to step foot on an NFL field again that probably would be for the best, the duo agreed.