The Oakland Raiders lose an important linebacker as Vontaze Burfict is suspended for the rest of the season. While many in the league see the suspension as a deserved punishment, the team feels like they were robbed of a capable defender.
According to Pro Football Talk's Josh Alper, the team–especially defensive coordinator Paul Guenther–feels like the season-long suspension is an intentional hit on the player. They have made appeals to lessen the amount of time he will spend on the sidelines, but appeals officer Derrick Brooks wasn't convinced about their arguments. After all, the hit he laid out on Jack Doyle was as malicious as it can be.
Guenther had more words to say about the suspension's unfair nature. Per NFL.com:
“Now we had no idea that this guy. … Does it make any sense to sign a guy after one infraction he's going to get thrown out of the league for a year? No, it doesn't. I think it's very unfair. it's unfair to our team. It's unfair to Vontaze. But we've got resilient players in there, proud guys and they're going to fill in for him and they're going to play for him.”
However, the Raiders aren't finding any allies outside their camp. Ed Reed, who played against Burfict when he was still a Cincinnati Bengal, didn't mince his words.
Pop Culture Sports wrote his thoughts on the Burfict situation:
“After all the years … dude actually needs to be evaluated,” Reed said to TMZ Sports. “I think he needs to be evaluated for playing like that.”
Whether Burfict does that remains to be seen. However, he may not find his way back to the NFL until he actually goes through counseling and has his issues sorted out.
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