30 July 2023 , 18:30
620
0
With some of the Cleveland Browns' stars having come to blows during their training camp, head coach Kevin Stefanski came down hard on his players by punishing those involved.
The 41-year-old was clearly left unimpressed after two scuffles in the middle of training and a video shared by Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com showed players being put through their paces as they were being reprimanded. Several Browns players were commanded to do three sets of sprints at varying intensities following the fracas.
Footage of one of the skirmishes in question showed defensive lineman Ogbo Okoronkwo and offensive lineman James Hudson III engaged in an intense stand-off. Squaring up to each other, the debacle appeared to have been sparked after Okoronkwo was seemingly irked by Hudson's pass-blocking.
From there, it appeared that the former slapped the latter, before running off from the scene. Hudson did not let the act slide, however, and then chased his teammate before throwing a punch, as players stepped in to try and separated the duo.
This is far from the first instance of proceedings taking a heated turn during a training camp this summer, with several fights having been reported to have taken place involving New York Jets players. With the "Hard Knocks" cameras currently present to film the inner sanctum of the Jets' operation, the incident saw offensive and defensive linemen involved in a brawl.
Joe Burrow backs Patrick Mahomes after Kansas City Chiefs reach Super Bowl
Like the melee involving the Browns' Okoronkwo and Hudson, this fight was quickly de-escalated by the players' teammates. On top of this, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs has had a week to forget in this regard, having seemingly seen red on a couple of occasions.
Within a couple of days of each other, superstar tight end Kelce was involved in a couple of altercations with his teammates, having punched linebacker Jack Cochrane, before throwing hands at cornerback Dicaprio Bootle. The star then took to Twitter to apologise for his actions, saying: "Gotta be a better teammate gotta be a better leader… plain and simple."
Head Coach Andy Reid of Kansas City Chiefs has spoken of his disapproval of training ground fights previously (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)His antics came over the space of a couple of days and have angered his head coach Andy Reid, who already scolded against fighting in training, following the first incident involving Kelce. He told ESPN's Adam Teicher: "Fighting is a waste of time, you get thrown out of games doing it, you get hurt out here doing it.
The disgruntled coach added: "But they’re going to jaw. It’s hot, humid. They’re going to jaw a little bit. Just as long as there are not punches thrown, we’re all right.’'
Either way, it is clear that this has been a tumultuous week for several NFL teams, with the passion often spilling over into brutish scenes. Whether these training camp fights have affected morale within the camp at these teams will soon become clear, with the Browns and the Jets set to face off in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3.