Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis could be the next player facing a suspension after this brutal hit to Packers wide receiver Davante Adams on Sunday:

We say could be because one of the biggest complaints players have is the league's haphazard enforcement of punishments. Most recently, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was suspended for a game for this hit on Vontaze Burfict, though the subsequent taunting certainly played a part too:

And later in that same game, this headshot to Antonio Brown originally earned Bengals safety George Iloka a one-game suspension:

Except that lloka's suspension was overturned on appeal.

And the day before Smith-Schuster and Iloka's hits, Rob Gronkowski got a one-game suspension for this dirty after-the-whistle elbow drop to Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White.

"Honestly, five years ago no one says anything about JuJu's hit; even a couple years ago," Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey said earlier this month. "The Gronk thing? That's never been allowed. And they're going to make it the same suspension? That's just like a smack in the face to us. Stupid. Even A.J. Green, he got into a fight and didn't get suspended. There were blows thrown. And you're going to suspend a kid for playing hard? Stuff that's inside the game? That's stupid. Whoever's making that rule is a dumbass."

So now the question becomes whether Davis suffers the same fate as Smith-Schuster or gets a reprieve like Iloka. It's worth noting that Adams was on the receiving end of a similarly scary hit in September and the perpetrator, Bears linebacker Danny Trevathon, was suspended for two games and the league reduced it to one game on appeal.

By the way, the same week Smith-Schuster and Iloka were suspended, Julio Jones did this. Not only wasn't he suspended, he wasn't even flagged. 

And that's the point the players are making -- the league's inconsistency is maddening.