It was learned on Thursday that the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints were both fined $500,000 by the NFL for “the actions that took place” during a fight-filled joint practice earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, players from the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots were involved in at least one scrum during the second day of joint practices between those clubs on Thursday. Following Thursday’s session, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley suggested that opposing teams should only spend so much time around each other during August workouts.
Saquon Barkley: “I hate joint practices”
“I’m the wrong guy to ask because I hate joint practices, to be honest. I think one day is good,” Barkley said, per Tim McManus of ESPN. “More times than not, nothing good comes out of it. When you have the work, it’s good, but then you get the pushing, the shoving and someone says this about you, and it’s ‘I don’t know about that, but you’re this.’ It’s immature when you get to that level.”
Fights breaking out among teams during joint practices are now common occurrences. That said, what went on between the Cowboys and the Saints sparked conversations on local and national sports-talk programs regarding whether the league should do anything to prevent such melees: