Houston Texans linebacker Denzel Perryman has been suspended without pay for three games due to repeated violations of rules intended to protect the health and safety of players, the league announced Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
What they’re saying
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote in a letter to Perryman (via a league release):
“With 4:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, you were involved in a play that the league considers a serious violation of the playing rules. You lowered your head and delivered a forcible blow to the shoulder and then the head/neck area of the receiver. You had unobstructed path to your opponent and the illegal contact could have been avoided.”
Runyan also said that Perryman has had multiple offenses for personal fouls of this type — six violations — throughout his career, including in Week 2 against Indianapolis, when he was fined for a violation of the same rule.
“When players violate the rules intended to protect player safety on a repeated basis, and particularly when the violations carry with them a significant risk of injury to an opposing player, it is appropriate to impose substantially greater penalties,” Runyan wrote in the letter.
Required reading
(Photo: Wesley Hitt / Getty Images)
