Following a sucker punch, Chicago Bears wide receiver is suspended for two games.
Reports that C.J. Gardner-Johnson spat on Javon Wims during the game, causing the punch and the subsequent altercation on the field, have been refuted; After the incident in the third quarter on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints won 26–23.
Wide receiver Javon Wims of the Chicago Bears will miss two games due to his sucker punch on defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson of the New Orleans Saints.
Wims has the right to appeal the decision, but his unsportsmanlike behavior suspension is unpaid and will keep him out of the lineup until Week 12 against Green Bay.
The claim that Gardner-Johnson spat on Wims during the game, causing the punch and the subsequent brawl to break out on the field, was refuted on Monday.
Gardner-Johnson wasn’t guarding him during the play, so Wims ran over to him and struck him twice in the facemask and helmet during the third quarter of the Saints’ 26-23 overtime victory. The Bears receiver was dismissed during a brawl that started.
According to a Monday NFL Network story, Wims informed the coaches in Chicago that Gardner-Johnson had not only ripped out his mouthpiece but also spit on him.
Michael Thomas, a teammate of Gardner-Johnson’s who got hit during practice and missed the team’s game in Week 5, refuted the report.
“That has nothing to do with me at all. It’s his fault if he’s acting out, Gardner-Johnson told reporters. “There was an incident. He talked a lot, he said a lot. Nothing happened, at all. Nobody was spat on.