The New York Giants and Detroit Lions held back-to-back joint drills earlier this week, and both teams were involved in large-scale brawls and minor skirmishes.
Several fights were particularly violent, including one involving Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Navers. Even quarterback Daniel Jones jumped into the pile at one point.
The NFL fined the Giants and Lions a whopping $200,000 each last month after sending teams a memo warning that fighting during practice would not be tolerated.
The NFL confirmed today that the Detroit Lions and New York Giants organizations have each been fined $200,000 for multiple fights that occurred during joint club practices earlier this week. All NFL clubs were fined $200,000 in a memo sent out last month, citing the fights and…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 7, 2024
Many players dismissed the fights as nothing more than “football stuff” exacerbated by the heat. Even Giants coach Brian Daboll seemed indifferent to the violence before the second and final joint practice Tuesday.
“Practice is a little bit different than a game. Obviously, you can’t do that in a game. We’re going to try to clean up some of the things that led up to that, but we’re going to play hard, play physical and have another good practice,” he told reporters.
Lions coach Dan Campbell was less enthusiastic, calling the fight a “waste of time.”
During practice Tuesday, Daboll and Campbell had to pull players off the field, and each session ended early as brawls broke out.
“Ultimately, we want to do our job, get some reps in and have a successful practice with minimal fights. But that’s just training camp. It just happens,” linebacker Brian Burns told reporters after practice Monday.
There were more than 10 fights over the course of two days. The aggression and physicality drew national attention, something the NFL is clearly not too pleased about.
