Training camp fights have been the storyline for the past couple of weeks. Add Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce to the list of players that got caught up in the heat of the moment at a joint practice. Every week it seems like we get a new report of a fight breaking out between two teams. The Eagles and Colts met for a joint practice and a cheap shot by Kelce incited a huge brawl.
Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce Incites Brawl
The cheap shot wasn’t unwarranted though Kelce himself admitted it was a cheap shot and he needs to do better. He laid out Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin after a late hit on running back Kenneth Gainwell. On back-to-back plays, Franklin popped Gainwell a little harder than Kelce thought necessary. After the second time, Kelce didn’t hesitate to respond with a cheap shot. Immediately, five Colts players intervened and the sidelines cleared. The practice was called early due to the fight.
We Need To End Joint Practices
I get why teams want joint practices. It is an opportunity to see what your team looks like against another team and not your own. At this point, the risk just isn’t worth it. This fight could have easily ended in someone getting injured. It is one thing to get injured during a game or practice. It is another if a player is injured because of a fight that broke out at practice. If it just happened once this offseason, it is an outlier. Every joint practice seems to end in a fight these days and teams should stop putting their players in harm’s way.
Jason Kelce did apologize after the incident. It will be interesting to see if there are any lingering emotions when the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts meet in the final preseason game on Thursday.
