Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore got kicked out of Patriots practice for fighting
Training camp tensions boiled over for the wide receiver and cornerback
By
Jared Dubin
•
1 min read
Football is a contact sport, and it's not uncommon for tensions to run high on the field. It's not even that uncommon for tensions to boil over between teammates and result in a fight, especially during training camp.
Even the defending champion Patriots are not immune. Patriots mainstay Julian Edelman got in a bit of a scrap with newcomer Stephon Gilmore at practice Tuesday and both players were thrown out of practice by Bill Belichick, according to several reporters on scene.
Julian Edelman has been told to leave practice after starting a fight with CB Stephon Gilmore after an incomplete end-zone pass.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 1, 2017
Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore had the long lonely walk off the practice field after a spirited scrap in which both players lost helmets
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) August 1, 2017
Here's a photo of the incident, via WCVB-TV in Boston.
Edelman ejected from practice after fight with teammate, ESPN reports https://t.co/FMf0YkcAGQ pic.twitter.com/X4XbQr77W3
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) August 1, 2017
There are more here, via Instagram:
Gilmore, of course, is a former Patriots rival. He spent the first five years of his career as a member of the Buffalo Bills, where he squared off with the Patriots twice a year. That probably didn't factor into his tete-a-tete with Edelman (sometimes long-time teammates duke it out at practice, too), and we can probably assume that nothing about this will linger into the season. This stuff just happens.
It has even happened with the Patriots before. Belichick kicked Malcolm Butler out of an inter-squad practice with the Bears last year for fighting with Alshon Jeffery. All that happened at the end of that season was the Pats won the Super Bowl. So it's probably not a big deal.
