NFL suspends Danny Trevathan two games

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 30, 2017, 4:32 PM EDT
AP

Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan has been suspended two games for his brutal hit that hospitalized Packers receiver Davante Adams on Thursday night.

The league announced Trevathan’s suspension today, two days after the hit on Thursday Night Football drew widespread condemnation and caused Adams to be carried off the field on a stretcher.

NFL V.P. of Football Operations Jon Runyan made the decision to suspend Trevathan based on the excessive nature of the hit, in which Trevathan lowered the crown of his helmet and appeared to directly target Adams’ head after Adams had already been wrapped up by other players.

Trevathan has the right to appeal. Either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash will hear Trevathan’s appeal.

If his appeal is not successful, Trevathan will miss next Monday night’s game against the Vikings and then the following Sunday’s game against the Ravens. He can return to the Bears’ roster on Monday, October 16 after their game against the Ravens on Sunday, October 15.

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76 responses to “NFL suspends Danny Trevathan two games”

  3. The problem with NFL suspensions is he will miss a game against the Packers division rival Vikings which may actually hurt the Packers. He should automatically miss the next game against the Pack.

  4. More than fair. That hit was just dirty.

    Guys need to realize that regardless of what team they play for they are in it together. You simply can’t take shots that endangers someone’s career.

  7. It could have been much worse. He could have had to live with knowing he gave a guy a life changing injury.
    If Trevathan truly has any class, he won’t fight this suspension. There is no way he can justify what he did.
    Hopefully Adams get healthy real soon and can forget about what happened.

  13. I don’t agree with this. The NFL should not suspend players for playing the game, it’s a brutal and vicious game which is what attracts so many people to it.

    The league also continues to disproportionately suspend and fine defensive players for making plays while playing a game at full speed when they’ve already committeed to make a play and can’t stop it while they are trying to tackle the offensive player or break up a pass/force a fumble.

    I hate to say it, but this is a true statement. Offensive players lower their head to brace for impact and when they duck their head the helmets hit. Many times a defensive player is aiming to hit an offensive player anywhere between the thigh and shoulder but the offensive player ducks their head and a helmet to helmet hit occurs.

    I do not believe a defensive player should be suspended or frankly even fined when the offensive player is as much at fault for what the result of the hit was.

  14. The responsible ref should be suspended an equal number of games for not ejecting the player at the time.

  17. beardown2017 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:03 pm
    Adams is soft
    ///////////////////////////

    You don’t want this thread. This thread is for football fans, not haters. You want the Viking threads. Their fans like to post nonsense like yours. I think you’d get along with them. They like to get drunk and pick needless fights too.

  19. Cody Laws says:

    Not a Bears can but NFL is a joke. They can just fine any player whenever they like to.
    __________________________________________________________________________________________

    I see that you fail to grasp the concept of how these things work out when one player targets another player with an egregious shot to the cranium and puts them in the hospital. Fine, suspension, loss of income…that kind of thing.

  24. orangecrush67 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:25 pm
    He deserves it
    ——————–
    I don’t like adams much either but this seems a bit strong.

  26. mass native and pats fan living in Chicago where my wife is from. That was an UGLY HIT. That was the sort of hit Rodney Harrison would pull when he was with us. I am glad Adams is ok, that’s just bush league to lay someone out like that. I get a weird feeling that the packers bears game in Soldier field this year will be a bit chippy early.

  27. Football is dead. Adams and number 64 have a big part to play in Adams being hurt since # 64 was moving Adams forward not allowing refs to call forward progress and Adams lowering his head at the point of impact. Karma for when he tried to hurt Jeremy Lane by wrenching his facemask left and right.

  28. NFL should have suspended Joe Whitt Jr for that ugly sideline incident everyone had to watch.

    What is the over under on how many more Packers players will quit on their team and leave in the middle of the game this year? I bet it is a lot if their position coaches are anything like their head coach Mike McCarthy. What a bloated windbag who cares nothing of his own players.

  29. I am a Bears fan, from the Butkus era. I don’t believe Trevathon was trying to hurt Adams. But head down, targeting with the crown of the helmet, is the number one “potential” killer of football. Hefty fine and 2 game suspension is the right call.

  30. tylawspick6 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:07 pm
    packers….one of the protected teams..

    roids and immediate suspensions for division rivals

    22 51 Rate This

    Someone gets injured and a Patriot troll is being stupid….will it ever stop. Every thread has one whining Patriot troll crying up a storm….oh my bad it’s in their DNA…sissies

  33. mkreef says
    September 30, 2017 at 5:04 pm
    Bang bang play, fine is more appropriate. Adams will think twice about trying for those extra yards again.

    ——————————
    Not a bang bang play. Dude ran 10 yards to nail him. He knew exactly what he was doing before he popped Adams. Either you are trying to simply ruffle feathers with your comment or clearly didn’t watch the replay. I believe the former is true.

  35. tylawspick6 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:07 pm

    packers….one of the protected teams..

    roids and immediate suspensions for division rivals

    _________________________________________

    As a pats fan and Mass native, people like YOU give all of us Bostonians a bad name with comments like this. The packers are not a “protected” team. That was a brutal hit. Oh yeah, and i live in Chicago where my wife is from, and she is a bears fan and agreed that was a disgusting hit. Read my comment earlier, former Pats great Rodney Harrison did this all the time, but that was 15 years ago when those hits were not illegal, just frowned upon.

  37. “Adams is soft”

    Always hilarious to see someone who a single hard hit from an NFL player would likely put in the hospital calling a guy who took a hit that would likely have killed the commenter “soft”.

    Its the people sitting behind the keyboards that are the soft ones, not the players.

  39. I have no problem with either the penalty or the suspension. My issue is that the consistency of penalties is non existent. Last year in the Bears game at Green Bay, Mathews obviously speared the Bears QB Hoyer, breaking his arm. No flag was thrown. I’m sure a casual observer of any NFL game can attest to similar inconsistent officiating. It’s getting tough to watch.

  40. What’s better than the tough guys posting the game has gone soft. Guys whose only football injuries ever were blisters on their thumbs from playing madden

  41. navyvandal says:
    September 30, 2017 at 6:19 pm
    tylawspick6 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:07 pm

    packers….one of the protected teams..

    roids and immediate suspensions for division rivals

    _________________________________________

    As a pats fan and Mass native, people like YOU give all of us Bostonians a bad name with comments like this. The packers are not a “protected” team. That was a brutal hit. Oh yeah, and i live in Chicago where my wife is from, and she is a bears fan and agreed that was a disgusting hit. Read my comment earlier, former Pats great Rodney Harrison did this all the time, but that was 15 years ago when those hits were not illegal, just frowned upon.

    5 1 Rate This

    ——–

    i used to live in chicago and without question, gb is one of the protected
    teams

    matthews and peppers used
    peds and goodell predictably covered for them

    it is fake pats fans like you on these boards who are the losers

    give it up already

  43. Nofoolnodrool says:
    September 30, 2017 at 6:05 pm
    tylawspick6 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:07 pm
    packers….one of the protected teams..

    roids and immediate suspensions for division rivals
    —-

    Someone gets injured and a Patriot troll is being stupid….will it ever stop. Every thread has one whining Patriot troll crying up a storm….oh my bad it’s in their DNA…sissies
    ——————-

    That’s as troll on troll a slime by as we ever see here at PFT. lmao

  44. smarter than you says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:07 pm
    He was a scumbag with the Broncos too.

    73 19 Rate This

    ——–

    the broncos always employ scumbags

    roided out, mouthy, cheating scumbags

  45. Travathan got suspended ?

    That’s fine; but when is the NFL gonna start sitting some of those Steeler head hunters ?

    Head shot after head shot, but no suspensions for the bumble-bee dudes.

    Boy; Rooney must have something over Goodell……

  46. thegreatjimbrown says:
    September 30, 2017 at 6:48 pm
    ” Last year in the Bears game at Green Bay, Mathews obviously speared the Bears QB Hoyer, breaking his arm.”

    Isn’t the NFL focusing on the head to head hits?
    ***********************
    Guaranteed if a bears player had speared Rodgers and broken his arm, he’d have been flagged, ejected and suspended. It shouldn’t matter who commits the foul or who’s on the receiving end. But we all know that it does.

  47. Is it me, or are the comments (and commenters) on this site getting progressively dumber? Beautiful old school football hit? Adams is soft? You’d think these commenters were the ones with cte.

  48. Little snowflakes calling that “an old school football hit”. Putting asidemthe fact that a sneeze would put you snowflakes on your a$$, the players are moneterous. The players pack in the “old days” were puny in comparison. If Cam Newton had played in SuperBowl I he wouldnhave been the biggest player for any position for either team.

    Thr problem with football today are old school fans.

  54. Should have been immediate ejection…but that’s another topic.

    Trevathan’s not a mental giant for certain.

    He got off way easy with 2 weeks. Should have been 4-6.

    Makes Bears look desperate…cheap. Which blows, as the rest of the team’s playing hard.

    Adams lucked out in not being screwed for life

  56. thegreatjimbrown says:
    ” Last year in the Bears game at Green Bay, Mathews obviously speared the Bears QB Hoyer, breaking his arm.”
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

    That's a Bold Faced Lie !!!! But then again I expect Bears fans to be biased and lie.

  57. Even if Adams lowered his head – and in all honesty, isn’t that what we would all do, to try to avoid what happened next? – if Trevathan leads with his shoulder, this isn’t a dirty hit. But he led with his head; it obviously wasn’t important to him where he hit Adams, since he wasn’t looking when he hit him. I get the “send a message” side of football, as well as the bang-bang aspect, but really, it looked as though Trevathan, in the moment, wasn’t concerned about whether he injured another player. I’ve never thought of Trevathan as dirty, but he made a really dangerous choice. Watching it live, I thought Adams might not walk again.

  58. Meanwhile Burfict got 3 games (originally 5) for a far less dangerous hit. In that case, they appeared to penalize the player, not the hit. Unfair, plain and simple.

    NFL has very little credibility when it comers to enforcing player safety rules.

  60. I only wish they would change the suspension rules so if Danny Trevathan gets 2 games for a hit against a divisional rival the next two times Packers play the Bears, he sits.

  62. So when trevathan appeals and the union supports him. Can Adams appeal saying it wasn’t harsh enough will the union support him? Or do they only support the criminal not the victim. Seems to me they should be supporting player saftey. Don’t be complaining and sueing over player safety if your fighting discipline for penalizing those who are unsafe.

  63. mkreef says:
    September 30, 2017 at 5:04 pm
    Bang bang play, fine is more appropriate. Adams will think twice about trying for those extra yards again.
    ==============================

    I don’t think you quite understand what “bang bang play” means. It means that there is very little reaction time to avoid the hit or helmet area. As you stated in your second sentence, Adams was fighting for yards and was held up. Travathan had plenty of opportunity to hit Adams clean. He chose to play dirty.

  64. I get that people are upset with this decision, but this player has a history of bad hits…maybe he struggles to control playing this way, but for the entire league’s sake they’re not going to make changes happen in this area until they make big splashes like this one. It totally sucks, but they have to try something else to stop players from getting destroyed.

  65. greatgrayowl1 says:
    September 30, 2017 at 9:31 pm
    beardown2017 Let me speak to you in words you may understand: uhhhh duuuhhhh

    ///////////////

    Sorry don’t understand. I do understand however that the pack is the softest team in the NFL

  66. The receiver was not wrapped up, he was engaged with a defender, kind of pushing each other, but not wrapped up. I though it was kind of a bang bang play. I can see ejecting him, or suspending him a game, but suspending 2 games seems a bit much. The other thing is the receiver bent down a little and in so doing lowered where his helmet was. Sometimes receiver get hit in the helmet because they ducked. Sometime guys go in head first to dislodge the ball. Players are responsible for their actions, but I think this isn’t as clear cut as everyone says it is. The Vontaze Burfict hit on Antonio Brown was far far worse.

  67. Danny Trevathan should go out and buy a lottery ticket because he just got very lucky it was only 2 games. Hit looked ugly and deliberate. This is another example where Goodell has got the suspension wrong.

  70. Bears and Packers and Vikings fans, have your squabbles on another thread ok? This play is exactly what football should move away from. That was dirty, malicious, and an obvious intent to injure. Can we love good hard hits and tackles and also move away from head shots and the celebration of knocking another player out? Trevathan should not have been allowed to continue playing in that game. Bang Bang play my ass. Soft player, you people done lost your damn minds.

  72. I think he should be suspended two games longer than it takes for Adams to return to the field.

  74. Trevathan and every other defensive player has one simple way of avoiding helmet to helmet contact that draws 2 game suspensions….look at what they are hitting all the way to the point of contact. If they want to physically punish the opposition by using the helmet as a weapon, the MMA is there for them. If they want to play football, they need to learn to look at what they’re hitting. Not only for the player safety aspect but also because it is better tackling technique. And poor tackling is a league-wide epidemic.

  75. Saw part of a college game yesterday and they will throw out multiple players in a game for targeting, even if the hit is unavoidable. Soon quarterbacks are going to be able to exploit this rule and draw in defenders to get them ejected.

  76. That was a potential career ending, life changing (paraplegic) cheap shot and should have been met with a half year suspension. If two players weren’t bracing the head from behind, he probably would have broke Adams’ neck or something.

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