The NFL is not expected to suspend Broncos safety Kareem Jackson for a pair of malicious hits that left receivers concussed over the last two weeks.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that the league will likely fine Jackson again rather than suspend him.
#Broncos safety Kareem Jackson is not expected to be suspended for Sunday’s hit on Washington tight end Logan Thomas that resulted in ejection, per source. He will be subject to a fine for what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet collision.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 18, 2023
Jackson made headlines again on Sunday for launching himself at the head of Commanders tight end Logan Thomas as he caught a pass in the end zone.
Source: NFL will be reviewing and discussing Monday whether Broncos’ safety Kareem Jackson should be disciplined for this hit on Commanders’ TE Logan Thomas one week after Jackson was fined $14,189 for his hit on Jakobi Meyers that left the Raiders’ WR with a concussion. pic.twitter.com/XOJUrZUFXZ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 18, 2023
Thomas left the game with a concussion and did not return. Jackson was ejected from the game. But this was the second time Jackson knocked a receiver out of the game in as many weeks. In the season opener, he gave Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers a concussion on a similarly vicious hit.
Kareem Jackson’s hit on Jakobi Meyers in Week 1. Jackson was fined $14,819, and Meyers missed Week 2 with a concussion. pic.twitter.com/dXM8asI9ck
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 17, 2023
It’s rather incredible that the league is settling for hitting Jackson another meager fine, especially when it obviously didn’t work the first time. It’s also incredibly hypocritical for a league ostensibly committed to player safety not to take more decisive action.
The NFL will put giant mushroom-looking Guardian Caps on players, but it won’t suspend a guy engaged in a clear and deliberate pattern of headhunting opposing receivers. Why mandate Guardian Caps and change the rule book just to let players maliciously assault each other on the field? If Jackson or some other defender had concussed a quarterback in the same way he did Meyers and Thomas, the league probably would have suspended him somewhere over the top of an active volcano.
But because he hasn’t yet damaged the mental faculties of someone the league cares about, they let it go.
Disgraceful, but not necessarily surprising.