ALAMEDA — Paul Guenther has always been in the corner of Vontaze Burfict, so it wasn’t surprising that the Raiders’ defensive coordinator took the 12-game suspension of his middle linebacker personally.
“I think it was a witch hunt from the beginning, quite honestly,” Guenther said Thursday. “Somebody in the league didn’t want him playing football, and they got what they wanted.”
The day after a 31-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Burfict was suspended by the NFL after being flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Colts tight end Jack Doyle. Burfict appealed the suspension, but it was upheld by appeals officer Derek Brooks.
Guenther was Burfict’s linebackers coach in Cincinnati and eventually defensive coordinator. The two have a close relationship and Guenther has backed Burfict through a career which has included several instances of alleged dirty play. Burfict was suspended for the first three games of the 2016 season for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Antonio Brown in a playoff game and took another three-game suspension (reduced from five on appeal) for a preseason hit against the Chiefs’ Anthony Sherman.
Burfict reportedly has more than $4 million in fines and forfeited game checks. That includes a four-game suspension in 2018 for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing drugs.
The league’s official announcement after the latest suspension cited Burfict’s “extensive history of rules violations factored into this decision regarding accountability measures.”
Guenther’s biggest issue is the lack of a clear standard in terms of fines and suspensions. In the NFL’s enforcement of performance enhancing drugs and substances of abuse, the discipline is clear. Players know where they stand after each infraction and what the next violation will mean in terms of additional discipline.
Burfict, Guenther said, had no idea he was one hit away from a season-long suspension.
“There’s no standard. That’s the issue I have,” Guenther said. “There’s no `Hey, next time you do this, you’re gone for the year. Maybe your career.’ You can warn a guy. Put it in writing. The next time this happens, you’re done. That’s unfair to the kid, it’s unfair to all the players around the league . . . I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. Now they’ve opened up a whole can of worms as far as the next guy who’s going to do it.”
Guenther believes the NFL made an example out of Burfict.
“We’re going to do this to this one guy, this one guy driving 38 miles an hour in a 30 mile an hour zone, with the cop looking for one guy doing it, where all the players are held to the same standard,” Guenther said.
Burfict signed a one-year contract with the Raiders, for which he will not be paid over the last 13 weeks of the season (including the bye). Teams will likely be hesitant to sign him as a free agent, given that any additional fouls would result in another year-long suspension or lifetime ban.
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