When the NFL announced that Rams linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar would be suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league policy on performance-enhancing substances, coach Jeff Fisher ripped Dunbar for being “selfish” and hurting the team.
Apparently Fisher wasn’t messing around: The Rams released Dunbar today, according to Howard Balzer of KSDK.
Dunbar started all 16 games last season and was expected to be a starter this season before his PED suspension, so the news that he’s been released comes as a surprise. But Fisher has emphasized that he wants to build his team his way, and it’s clear that Fisher isn’t a big fan of Dunbar’s right now.
Suspended players don’t get paid and don’t count toward the 53-man roster, so it would have been easy for the Rams to keep him at least through his suspension, and cut him after the suspension only if they’re satisfied with how their defense performs without him. But Fisher apparently decided that he simply doesn’t want to coach a selfish player who did something that hurt the team.