Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict has been suspended without pay for the rest of the 2019 season for his helmet-to-helmet hit Sunday on Colts TE Jack Doyle.
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote a letter to Burfict explaining the decision.
"There were no mitigating circumstances on this play. Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game. Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk."