ASHBURN, Virginia – The NFL fined Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera $ 100,000 and stripped the two-practice OTA practice team in 2023 for excessive contact in the spring, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano .
The NFL Players Association reviewed the practice video on June 1 and 8, at the request of the commanders, and informed the NFL Board of Directors that it considered such practices to violate the live contact “of the collective agreement. The council, after reviewing the practices, agreed.
The NFL informed Washington general manager Martin Mayhew in a letter about the sanctions. The letter said “there is no doubt” that a team does it to gain a competitive advantage.
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The commanders, who finished spring training on Thursday, declined to comment.
According to the letter, “Washington’s intensity and pace of the Club’s inside line play and coverage of passes during the 11-on-11 exercises were at a level where players were clearly involved in physical competitions.” He claimed that in more than one play there was excessive contact between players which caused the players to go to the ground.
“In some cases,” the letter said, “the players took a long time to recover from those collisions.”
The letter said Rivera should intervene when training became too physical and remind players of the rules and “maintain proper control” over practice.
On June 8, Washington safety Jeremy Reaves crashed into receiver Dyami Brown as they both went for the ball. Reaves later said he did not see Brown, cutting off traffic, or would have stopped. After the play, Brown was left on the ground, walked slowly to the sideline and then escorted to the facility. Rivera stopped training and called on his players to play smarter and more disciplined and ended the entire team session prematurely.
He later said Brown had a sore shoulder. Brown participated in the mandatory three-day mini-camp a week later.
“We just have to be careful and work with each other,” Rivera told the media after the collision. “The last thing we want is for someone to get hurt. There’s a certain discipline that I try to convey to guys who understand that when we talk about doing things in a specific way, there’s a reason why. We don’t want to do that. see that the boys get hurt.
“I really appreciate the way they practice, the way they practice hard and become competitive from time to time, but we have to have the discipline to understand each other.”
A source said there were worse collisions than during other closed media practices.
During the two canceled OTA practices, players may not train on the premises, but all players participating in the low season training program will be paid for these days.
Last week, Rivera fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $ 100,000 for comments comparing the events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol with the rioters and looters during the summer of 2020. Rivera said the Del Rio’s comment, calling January 6 “dusty,” created a distraction for the team.