Once upon a time when Vontaze Burfict played at Arizona State, Sun Devil legend Danny White told me during a local TV interview that Burfict was a “coach killer”. Vontaze managed to rack up 17 personal foul penalties in his 37 career games in Tempe. He had the distinction of going from a 2011 preseason sure-fire first round draft pick, to undrafted by the NFL in 2012. Gotta work pretty hard to go that route. Current Sun Devil special advisor Marvin Lewis was the one guy in the NFL that took a chance on Burfict after 31 linebackers were selected in front of him.
I had to MC a large Tempe charity event in the spring of the 2012. Many of those in attendance thought it was cool that Burfict was parking cars and security detail for the night. I thought it was sad. It was shortly after he had turned in a poor 4o time for the scouts.
Monday, Burfict was shown the door for the rest of 2019 NFL season after an illegal hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle. Burfict will lose his 1.2-million dollar salary. If you Google Vonteze Burfict, you’ll see a long, long, long list of fines and suspensions in his checkered NFL career. It’s sad, really. An immense talent when he first signed with ASU to being kicked out of the NFL seven years later(pending appeal).
Brad Cesmat
