VONTAZE BURFICT SUSPENDED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE 2019 SEASON FOR REPEATED VIOLATIONS OF UNNECESSARY ROUGHNESS RULES
VONTAZE BURFICT of the Oakland Raiders has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the 2019 season, as well as any postseason games, for repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules, including in Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.
NFL Vice President of Football Operations JON RUNYAN issued the suspension for a violation of Rule 12, Section 2, Article 10, which states that: “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”
In his letter to Burfict, Runyan wrote:
There were no mitigating circumstances on this play. Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game.”
“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.”
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the suspension may be appealed within three business days. Appeals are heard and decided by either DERRICK BROOKS or JAMES THRASH, the officers jointly appointed and compensated by the NFL and NFLPA to decide appeals of on-field player discipline.