Violent Aaron Donald strips Bengals player off his helmet and hits him with it twice during fiery brawl
Joint practices between NFL teams can get scrappy and can often even boil into a violent brawl, as Aaron Donald showcased on Thursday.
During a joint practice featuring reigning Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams, and the team they beat, the Cincinnati Bengals, things seemingly got heated during a drill, prompting Donald to yank a helmet off a Bengals player and swing it at him. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year made contact with another player's helmet twice.
The incident was recorded by fans in attendance, who couldn't hide their disbelief:
keep ya head on a swivel 👀 https://t.co/Oywc3Dt52k
The pile of Bengals players managed to floor Donald with a push, and a few of the defensive star's teammates stepped in between him and Cincinnati's fuming stars to end the altercation.
Aaron Donald's violent attack ends practice
It's unclear what prompted the fight or who started it, but Donald's wild swings ended the skirmish and the practice. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor spoke with the media after practice and brushed off the incident, saying:
"Just got a little scuffle-y, so we called it [a day]. We were in the last period [of practice]. We got two really good days of work, so it wasn't really worth it getting the extra couple of play, so we called it up. And now we got two really good days of work in and we are going to play on Saturday."
Bengals coach Zac Taylor on the fight that caused practice to be over. https://t.co/7LXPIW10uq
Former Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers star Richard Sherman tweeted that things were bound to get chirpy between the two after their duel in the Super Bowl in February. He wrote:
"Who could have predicted a superbowl rematch “joint” practice would be emotional and lead to chaos? Everyone."
Also Checkout:- Bengals Preseason Schedule
Who could have predicted a superbowl rematch “joint” practice would be emotional and lead to chaos? Everyone. twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman…
Aaron Donald's helmet attack was reminiscent of Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett's violent outburst against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in 2019.
Myles Garrett is beating people with THEIR OWN HELMET https://t.co/GsRKuQ225R
Garrett was suspended indefinitely for his attack on Rudolph and missed the Browns' final six games of the 2019 season. He was reinstated in February.
A skirmish during joint practice during the preseason likely won't lead to a suspension for Aaron Donald, but it was a scary sight to see a player swing their helmet at opponents.