Former Kentucky defensive back Lonnie Johnson was sent to the showers after delivering a pair of big hits on Packers players during a joint practice.
After a particularly big hit on Packers rookie tight end Jace Sternberger, Johnson stood over Sternberger and flexed. Several other Packers players ran over to confront Johnson.
Here’s a look:
The #Packers and #Texans got into joint practice fight, but it got broken up pretty quickly.
It was rookie on rookie crime, Packers TE Jace Sternberger was hit hard by Texans CB Lonnie Johnson and then flexed over him.pic.twitter.com/iIXxfBzWzY
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 5, 2019
Johnson posted this response on Twitter:
Not trying to hurt nobody just wanna be great 🙏🏾‼️ https://t.co/tv734EE9TH
— Lonnie Johnson jr. (@Lonnie30johnson) August 5, 2019
And this on Instagram:
Here are some quotes on the incident from ESPN:
“That was unnecessary,” Packers receiver Davante Adams said. “You’ve got plenty of time for that. You can do it in the games and you get fined. Be a coward when you do stuff like that in practice, it’s not a good look. We take care of each other up here. I don’t know how they practice, I don’t know what they do over there, but there’s consequences for stuff like that. … It’s a brotherhood across the league, period. I had plenty of times where I could take somebody out but I decided not to because I felt like that’s not the appropriate thing to do when we’re trying to get better and look out for one another.”
Packers tight end Jimmy Graham called it “kind of ridiculous.”
“I respect a lot of those guys over there on the Texans; I’ve played against them quite a bit over my career,” Graham said. “Obviously he’s a rookie and he needs to know you can’t be hitting guys live in practice. That’s absolutely ridiculous. And we’re not going to stand for that here, obviously. I know his older guys over there are going to be on him about it because my young guy’s just running through a zone, obviously. Just run by him. We know you’re going to blow him up in a game. This isn’t a game. We’re going to play on Thursday. You can do that then. It’s one of those things, rookie on rookie, but [No.] 32 has to chill out.”
Sternberger returned to practice after he was evaluated for a concussion, but Johnson actually delivered another hit — to Packers receiver Trevor Davis on a kickoff return — before O’Brien removed him. Davis did not return.
“I thought there was no place for that,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We addressed it. It’s an unfortunate deal, because I was pretty clear with our guys we’re not doing that stuff.”
Packers right guard Billy Turner relayed what LaFleur told his players.
“He was clear with us, and we were clear with him: If they started taking shots on our players, then we’re not just going to stand there,” Turner said. “We’re not punks by any means, and that’s what happened. So we were men of our word, just like he was a man of his word.”
Houston coach Bill O’Brien said it was time for Lonnie to head to the showers:
Bill O’Brien on Lonnie Johnson. The play he is referring to is the hit on Jace Sternberger that started the small scrum. #Texans pic.twitter.com/l5qyxV1JmK
— patrick (@PatDStat) August 5, 2019
