Tuesday's joint practice between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints spiraled into chaos, with at least six separate fights breaking out. Punches flew, helmets came off, and Saints tight end Brock Rechsteiner — son of former WWE star Scott Steiner — even hit a Cowboys defender with a wrestling-style suplex, driving him to the turf. Both head coaches — the Saints' Kellen Moore and the Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer — acknowledged that while they welcome competitive fire, things went a step too far, and both admitted they even considered calling off practice at one point.
"We kind of had agreed that if a couple of other things happened, we would cancel it, but they worked through it," Schottenheimer said. "Again, they settled into it, but again, there's a discipline element to playing this football game, and unfortunately we didn't handle that very well today." More news: Seahawks’ Trevon Diggs Signing Sets up Special Full-Circle Moment in 2026 Physicality at joint practices is nothing new — it's to be expected when two opposing teams meet in a competitive setting for the first time. But Tuesday's session got out of hand, prompting Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio to propose a simple solution: fines.
"The NFL should exercise jurisdiction over joint practices, issuing fines (and other discipline, when necessary) for any fights that occur," Florio wrote. At a minimum, it would give cooler heads a very good reason to prevail, if/when things heat up." Under the NFL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the league has the power to fine players for fighting during joint practice sessions. Historically, though, the league has typically targeted organizations rather than individual players.
In 2024, the Detroit Lions and New York Giants were each fined $200,000 after multiple fights broke out between the two teams during joint practices in early August. The altercations involved several well-known players from both sides, including the Giants' Malik Nabers, Daniel Jones, and Dru Phillips, and the Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, and Kerby Joseph.
More news: Could the Texans Bring Back a Familiar Face After Losing Jayden Higgins? More news: Eagles’ $100 Million Man in Doubt for Week 1 While teams are more commonly the ones fined, players can also face internal team discipline, ejections, suspensions from drills, or direct financial penalties from the league. With the NFL just over halfway through its 2026 preseason joint practice slate, it remains to be seen whether these incidents keep piling up — and whether the league finally steps in.
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