Oakland Raiders: Vontaze Burfict’s suspension stands after appeal

Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict saw his suspension for the 2019 season stand on Wednesday, as his appeal was declined by Derrick Brooks.

Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s season-long suspension will hold after his appeal was heard on Tuesday, according to NFL.com. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker and current appeal officer, Derrick Brooks, upheld the suspension.

Appointed by the NFLPA and the league, Brooks upheld the suspension on the assumption of Burfict’s repeated violation of the league’s helmet-to-helmet rule.

Of course, Burfict’s history of repeated on-the-field issues hurt his case, as the 12-game suspension is the longest in NFL history for an on-the-field incident. In his first season with the Raiders, Burfict had become a team leader, being named captain, and was playing some of the best football we had seen out of him in a long time.

The suspension came on September 30th, 2019 after the Indianapolis Colts game and director of football operations for the NFL, Jon Runyan, wrote in a statement:

"“Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed appeal officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk. Your extensive history of rules violations is factored into this decision regarding accountability measures.”"

Burfict was signed to a 1-year “prove it” deal worth $5 million in the offseason after the Cincinnati Bengals let him go for a string of violations during his play. He joined a team that needed a team leader, as well as depth at the linebacker position in year 2 of the second Jon Gruden Era in Oakland.

Raider Nation was hopeful Burfict would help turn one of the leagues most average defenses back into something special by teaming him with Tahir Whitehead, the teams tackling leader from 2018, and defensive rookies Clelin Ferrell and Johnathan Abram.

Oakland sought to revamp their defense to make it tougher against the run and help regain the pass-rusher lost whenKhalil Mack was traded prior to the 2018 NFL season. Last week, the Raiders took on the Chicago Bears for the first time since the trade.

They nearly got beat as the Bears erased a 17-0 lead in the second half, but a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for the Raiders.

In Burfict’s absence, the Raiders made a bunch of moves at the linebacker, but also got great play from Nicholas Morrow, who played every snap of the team’s win on Sunday. It remains to be seen as to whether Burfict will be back next season, as he was on a one-year deal, but he impressed the coaches in his short stint on the active roster.