Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Derek Barnett is unlikely to be suspended for his hit that knocked Green Bay Packers running back Jamaal Williams out of the game on Thursday night, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The incident occurred on the Packers' first play of the game, when Williams caught a pass from Aaron Rodgers and was stood up by a pile of Eagles defenders for no gain. But Barnett came over after the whistle and laid a brutal hit on Williams, who laid on the field after the collision and had to be taken off on a stretcher.
Barnett was hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty, but was not ejected.
The good news is that Williams had movement in all of his extremities and gave the Packers faithful a thumbs up as he was being wheeled off, so it seems like he will be just fine.
Schefter notes that Barnett could be fined, but that that will be likely be the extent of the disciplinary action the NFL takes, which is something that probably won't sit well with Green Bay fans.
The Eagles went on to win the game by a score of 34-27 to improve to 2-2 on the season.
Barnett logged four tackles in the victory and has totaled 12 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble on the year overall.
The 23-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Tennessee, was originally selected by Philadelphia in the first round (14th pick overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
He has accumulated 49 tackles and 8.5 sacks thus far in his career.