Patriots

Kendrick Bourne was among several players ejected after Patriots, Panthers fight

Receivers Kendrick Bourne and Kristian Wilkerson were reportedly among the players removed from the field

By Khari Thompson

August 16, 2022

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Several Patriots and Panthers players were ejected Tuesday after a pair of fights broke out at practice in Foxborough.

According to multiple reports, Patriots receivers Kristian Wilkerson and Kendrick Bourne were tossed along with Panthers safety Kenny Robinson following the first fight.

The second skirmish resulted in Panthers defensive lineman David Hoskins and Patriots offensive lineman James Ferentz being ejected.

“It’s all competition, but we can’t fight in the game, can’t do it in practice,” Patriots running back Damien Harris said. “As competitive as it is we’ve got to play within the rules and we’ve go to be disciplined and go out there and do our jobs. And fighting is not a part of our job.”

NESN’s Zach Cox said the fight happened after Wilkerson made a catch along the sideline and that Bourne came in throwing punches.

 “We just got to control our temper, you know,” Patriots receiver DeVante Parker said. “If one of our players is over there, there are 30 guys over there, we’re gonna go over there and see what’s going on.”

Bourne is listed as a starter according to the Patriots depth chart on ESPN. He was the only one of the Patriots’ starters who was ejected.

A fan can be heard in the background of one of the videos yelling “Let’s go Patriots, go Patriots, beat them up.”

Patriots.com reporter Evan Lazar said the first fight escalated after Wilkerson was tackled.

The incident comes one week after Patriots defensive lineman Christian Barmore and offensive lineman David Andrews were kicked out of practice for fighting. Barmore and Andrews have both said they’ve worked things out.

Tuesday’s practice was the first of a pair of joint practices between the Panthers and Patriots.

The teams are scheduled to play each other in a preseason game on Friday night. It’s the second of three preseason games for the Patriots, who will wrap up the preseason in Las Vegas next week.

“We didn’t come here to fight, we came here to practice,” Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said. “It shows the maturity of a lot of other guys that it didn’t escalate into a big thing.”