Another day, another fight: Panthers, Patriots continue contentious joint practices

For the second consecutive day, several Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots players were kicked out of a joint practice session after a fight broke out on the football field.

Panthers safety Kenny Robinson, among those asked to leave practice Tuesday, was again asked to leave Wednesday, along with Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard and Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise.

Early in the session, Pats receiver Kristian Wilkerson — also among those tossed Tuesday — was hit hard during a kickoff return drill and remained on the turf for an extended period of time before being carted off, leading to a heated exchange.

On an ensuing series, Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey was taken to the ground hard during a team drill by Wise. McCaffrey flung the ball at Wise after popping to his feet, and the players came together.

Robinson was escorted to head coach Matt Rhule, who was with another group on a different field, and general manager Scott Fitterer waved Robinson off the practice facility.

After practice, Rhule didn’t rule out Robinson being released. He said the team would reevaluate Robinson’s status after reviewing the play.

It’s the second time Robinson was kicked out of practice. When talking with local media after practice some Patriots players theorized Robinson’s ejection from Tuesday’s session for fighting with Wilkerson poured into Wednesday’s practice.

“It’s unfortunate,” Rhule said. “The decision of one or two guys impacts a lot of different people. ... I’d love to be talking about two-minute (drills) right now and Sam (Darnold) scrambling and making an excellent throw. There’s a lot of football things that matter way more to me, but distractions affect you and that’s what we can’t do.”

Football felt like an afterthought following back-to-back brawls that both Rhule and Patriots coach Bill Belichick invited by opening Day 2 of their joint practices together with high-intensity 11-on-11 kickoff and kickoff return drills.

Rhule and Belichick called their respective teams together to calm things down after Hubbard and Wise were thrown out. Rhule told Panthers players that if there were any more fights they would cancel the joint session and instead practice against themselves.

Both teams ran about four plays each of kickoff and kickoff return before Robinson leveled Wilkerson, sparking a sideline clearing brawl that spilled immediately into a team 11-on-11 drill afterward.

On the far field nearest the bleachers reserved for fans, Wise shoulder tackled McCaffrey to the ground. McCaffrey’s ball toss was the catalyst to tackle Dennis Daley and guard Michael Jordan driving Wise into the fan section. Again, both sidelines cleared as Panthers defenders from the other field rushed over.

Rhule said an official told him that Hubbard was removed for throwing punches.

“I’ve never been a part of a joint practice where there’s not one of those. It’s not about how it’s going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen,” McCaffrey said. “I spoke to (Chuba) briefly, but I’m going to talk to him after this.”

It’s unclear whether Robinson’s hit was a cheap shot. Patirots special teams star Matthew Slater said he did not see the play but he took offense to Robinson standing over Wilkerson after he was knocked down.

“When you have a teammate who is hit, who’s down, and there’s clear symptoms of what happened to him, we all know what that looks like as football players, and then you have players celebrating that act; I take issue with that,” Slater said. “I don’t care if it’s in a game situation, and certainly in a practice situation, that’s not OK.”

Rhule also said he not see the play, though he was frustrated with Robinson derailing practice yet again.

“Two days now of practice was affected by a guy. We’ll have to talk about it and see where we are. We should be playing football the real way, where you help a guy up, not standing over a guy,” Rhule said. “That’s not how we want to practice. We don’t stand over them and taunt them.”

Following Tuesday’s fight between Robinson and Wilkerson — which led to the ejections of Kendrick Bourne (Patriots) and Phil Hoskins — Rhule said his team came to New England to practice not fight.

Safety Jeremy Chinn stressed the importance of maximizing practice time by avoiding extracurricular distractions.

“We don’t want to do that. It wastes a lot of time,” Chinn said Tuesday. “It’s not a good thing to be fighting over and over again. We want to get the reps, and we want to be able to practice and play ball at the end of the day. So that’s not something that we’re trying to do at all.”

Robinson did not listen. As a result, his future in Carolina is in question.

Notes

▪ Center Bradley Bozeman will be out two to three weeks with an ankle injury. The team initially feared Bozman may have fractured his lower leg, but tests came back negative.

▪ Rhule said the team plans to play mostly their second- and third-team players during Friday night’s preseason game against New England. He did not share who would start at quarterback.

▪ The Panthers signed linebacker Josh Watson after practice. He spent time on the practice squad last season. To make room, tight end Ryan Izzo was cut.

▪ Robbie Anderson and Terrace Marshall did not practice. Shi Smith was limited. Carolina warmed up with only seven receivers before Smith joined practice.

This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 11:25 AM.