Vontaze Burfict’s suspension for the rest of the season was overkill

Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict will be suspended for the rest of 2019 for his hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle. Is this overkill?

The Oakland Raiders will be without their defensive captain in linebacker Vontaze Burfict for the rest of the season after his late hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle in Week 4. Burfict’s reputation as a head hunter has followed him from the Cincinnati Bengals to the Silver and Black. He deserves a suspension, but is being out for the rest of the year a tad overkill here?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Josh Hill, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, discuss if the 12-game suspension is too much for one late hit from the Raiders’ linebacker (50:35).

Schwartz doesn’t view the punishment as necessarily ‘overkill’, but does believe that Burfict’s 12-games suspension will get reduced. “What’s gonna happen is that they’re going to appeal this and get it to like 10 games.”

He suspects that the NFL wanted a 10-game suspension initially, but expected Burfict’s camp to appeal, so the league levied a higher number know that it was probably going to drop a few to a number once the appeal was heard. Schwartz does want to see Burfict get banned but states that the NFLPA will have to stick up for its players, even if Burfict’s reputation proceeds himself.

Verderame doesn’t view the suspension as overkill, citing that the league should ban him for life. The reason he feels this strongly is if Burfict were to have laid a hit down on a franchise quarterback instead of a tight end.

He does have a point that the league needs as strong of quarterback play as it could get. Signal-callers garner a ton of protection, but even then, it might not necessarily be enough. Burfict did initially make the trek across the Atlantic Ocean to play the Chicago Bears in London but has since returned to the United States after hearing the league plans to suspend him for the rest of 2019.

Here are a few other topics that were discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Was Nate Burleson more nervous playing a big NFL game, or interviewing J-Lo (21:26)?
• Does Dwayne Haskins save Jay Gruden’s job with the Washington Redskins (43:15)?
• The Detroit Lions are indeed a real playoff contender (44:50).
• Verderame melts down over Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans (53:02).

All this and more!

Subscribe to Stacking The Box and follow Geoff Schwartz, Matt Verderame and Josh Hill on Twitter.