Former Georgia football star Jalen Carter made a huge mistake during Thursday Night Football. When the Eagles defense took the field after the opening kickoff, Carter approached Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and spit on him.
Carter was immediately flagged for this and was ejected from the game before the first snap of the NFL season even took place.
Fans were outraged after this incident with some even calling for Carter to be punished beyond this ejection. This however isn’t the first spitting incident to occur in the NFL, and based on the league’s history Carter likely won’t face any serious repercussions outside of his ejection.
NFL’s history of handling similar incidents is good news for Jalen Carter
Two examples of a similar occurrence taking place in the NFL occurred when Terrell Owens spit on DeAngelo Hall and Bill Romanowski spit on J.J. Stokes. Both incidents were very similar to Carter’s on Thursday night, so one would agree the NFL’s punishment should be the same.
Both Owens and Romanowski were fined for their incidents, but they were not suspended by the NFL. So it’s a fair assumption that the same punishment could be coming Carter’s way.
However, the NFL has been cracking down on penalties related to unsportsmanlike conduct, so there is a chance the league uses Carter as an example to prevent this from happening again. If the league cracked down on Carter and suspended him for multiple games, there is very little chance another incident like this would ever occur again.
The NFL more than likely will hand out additional punishments to Carter rather quickly if they choose to do so, so Georgia fans won’t have to wait long to find out what the league decides to do. But if the NFL does decide to suspend Carter, there likely won’t be many people arguing against their decision.