Vontaze Burfict’s suspension is over — and apparently it has been for nearly a month.
The NFL reinstated the Las Vegas Raiders linebacker “quietly” in January, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Burfict was suspended for the last 12 games of the 2019 season after initiating a helmet-to-helmet hit with Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle in Week 4.
Burfict is a repeat offender, having been suspended for similarly questionable hits three times (18 games total) since 2016, per Spotrac. He’s been fined 14 different times for various unsportsmanlike plays since Sept. 2013, most of which occurred during his tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Burfict’s agent, Peter Schaffer, said his client has been working out at his alma mater, Arizona State.
“Vontaze has spent the entire off season studying and learning the proper code of conduct for participating in the NFL,” Schaffer told Pelissero on Monday. “He has watched tape, talked with coaches and NFL experts doing everything he can to conform his passionate play to the rules of the NFL. This is a serious issue not just for Vontaze but all players and he is serious about doing things the right way and being a leader in playing football the right way.”
From Vontaze Burfict’s agent, Peter Schaffer, who told me Burfict has been working out at his alma mater, Arizona State (where Burfict has an advocate in former #Bengals coach Marvin Lewis). pic.twitter.com/4wa3wCmajQ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 24, 2020
Burfict will become an unrestricted free agent March 18.
