Christian McCaffrey at Center of Panthers-Patriots Fight During Joint Practice

Joint practices between the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots this week got off to a bad start. Tuesday featured several players being ejected as dustups occurred during workouts, setting the stage for even more bad blood after all the drama.

That tension came to a boiling point on Wednesday when Panthers star Christian McCaffrey took exception to the Patriots' extra physicality and ended up starting a fight.

A melee on the first rep of #Panthers first team offense vs #Patriots first team defense. McCaffrey got tackled near the sideline, threw the ball at a defender and then all hell broke loose. Deatrich Wise appears to have been ejected. Bad look for both teams.
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 17, 2022

On the very first rep of first team vs. first team, McCaffrey was taken down to the ground near the sideline. He wasn't happy with the hit, and that resulted in him throwing the ball at a defender, which kicked a fracas off. It appears New England defensive end Deatrich Wise was the offender on the McCaffrey tackle, since he was ejected after the dust settled.

Wise wasn't the only one that got the boot, though. Carolina RB Chub Hubbard was kicked out of practice as well following the scrum. And before this play, Panthers safety Kenny Robinson was ejected from practice for the second straight day after he laid out Patriots wideout Kristian Wilkerson, who left the field on a cart.

Patriots WR Kristian Wilkerson left the practice field on a cart.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) August 17, 2022

These frequent fights showcase how joint practices can devolve into chaotic and dangerous events if everyone isn't on their best behavior. Hopefully order can be restored and no incidents happen when these teams meet on Friday for their preseason matchup.

SIGN UP NOW. Up to $1,000 in Free Bets if you don't win your first bet!. dark

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.