Vontaze Burfict was a very talented player in college, but he had some major character issues that kept him from getting drafted. Instead, he was signed as an undrafted rookie by the Cincinnati Bengals back in 2012. Since then, he has really shown that he is a talented player and has even been named to the Pro Bowl. However, despite his talent, that is not what he is best known for in the NFL.
Despite how naturally talented Burfict is, he has a bit of a negative reputation around NFL circles. For a few years now, Burfict has been accused of having some anger issues and if you have seen some of the things he has done, that seems like a bonafide fact.
He has had numerous suspensions and fines thanks to many illegal hits and questionable antics on the field.
Problematic history
Burfict's problematic history dates back to college as he was benched, had academic problems that kept him out of many games, and even reportedly failed a drug test ahead of the 2012 NFL draft. However, once he got to the NFL, the problems just got worse. He has had two suspensions in his career, and has lost well over $2M, with almost all of that coming within the last two seasons.
Burfict's most recent offense
Despite his very problematic history (and the amazing fact that he has actually paid out about 10% of his total NFL salary toward suspensions and fines), Burfict was actually able to dodge suspension for some questionable behavior in the team's recent loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After being knocked to the ground, it appeared as though Burfict tried to kick the head of an opponent, narrowly missing. If that connected, there is no telling what kind of damage a two-footed kick to the head (with cleats) might have done.
Many people were sure Burfict would be suspended for this play, but not only was he not suspended, there wasn't even a penalty flag thrown on the play, despite a ref being right in front of the action.
The Steelers were obviously not too happy about this occurrence and Steelers star RB Leveon Bell even took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with the situation.
man dude gotta go man...that’s not football AT ALL!! https://t.co/IFbNZPZtWR
— Le'Veon Bell (@L_Bell26) 23 October 2017
In the Tweet, you can see that Bell asks for Burfict to be flat-out removed from the league, which many fans would probably agree with.
Hopefully Burfict learns to simply tackle safer or to keep his anger under control, because if not, you might be reading more articles in the future about him severely injuring an opponent. Also, if players are being vocal on social media about how dirty you are, maybe it is time to clean up.
