Giants, Lions Fined by NFL for Multiple Fights During Joint Practices

Both organizations were fined $200,00 by the NFL

Aug 11, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback Adrian Martinez (18) scores the game-winning touchdown against the New York Giants in the fourth quarter at Ford Field. | David Reginek-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants’ spirited joint practices with the Detroit Lions turned out to be financially costly for both teams.

The NFL confirmed that the Lions and Giants organizations have each been fined $200,000 for multiple fights that broke out at their joint practices earlier this week. It added that “ All NFL clubs were reminded in a memo sent last month that fighting and unprofessional conduct at joint practices would not be tolerated.”

Over the two-day practice sessions, there were over a half dozen fights, most of them on Monday. However a few fights popped up toward the end of Tuesday’s session and in fact because of that, both head coaches (Dan Campbell of the Lions and Brian Daboll of the Giants) agreed to cancel the last planned period of the session since the fights continued to disrupt the flow of the timing.

Despite the fights, both Campbel and Daboll felt that the joint practices were productive.

“It was very productive. It was competitive on both sides,” Daboll said before Tuesday’s practice. “(We) talked about cleaning up a few things that led to some of those things. We'll try to do a better job today, but both sides were competitive and got a lot out of it.”

“Just to get a different look at different types of players that have different skillsets than what you’ve faced for two weeks now is really beneficial,” Campbell said, adding that the fights were a result of some guys going rogue. “So, it was good, man–a ton of good stuff.”