Justin Herbert hit has calls for Saints player’s suspension getting louder

Chris Roling | 3 Hours Ago

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

A day later, the rest of the NFL viewing audience appears to have woken up to the seemingly dirty hit on Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in Week 8.

For those out of the loop, Saints defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd twisted a downed Herbert’s ankle for much longer than necessary on Sunday, to the point Chargers lineman Bradley Bozeman dove in and got dirty too, drawing a flag.

After the game, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh had some interesting comments about the whole thing.

And on Monday, calls for a suspension in the name of player safety started in earnest.

Here’s Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio: “It wasn’t a legitimate use of the “Gator Roll,” a technique cited in the past by those defending sketchy play. This was dirty. It was cheap. It was an intent to injure. And the NFL must respond accordingly. Shepherd should be suspended.”

We’ll find out later this week if the NFL takes action (and whether Bozeman gets a fine for his role, no matter how justified).

For now, Florio isn’t the only one waking up to this whole sequence of events:

Hey @NFL and @NFLOfficiating if you do not suspend Nathan Shepherd for this play I do not want to hear anymore about how player safety is your number one priority. pic.twitter.com/ivx9bOYvmj
— Eric (@EVrsalovich) October 28, 2024

Bozeman should get a $250k bonus from team or Justin. Nathan Shepherd should be suspended for season. That's horrible https://t.co/cMhjpN4KT9
— J.Forrest (@JDForrest129) October 27, 2024

Nathan Shepherd deserves a lengthy suspension for this. I can't recall a dirtier play I've seen this season. There is absolutely nothing Shepherd could be trying to accomplish here other than injuring Justin Herbert https://t.co/lxj3hggqT3
— Billy Moy (@PFF_Billy) October 27, 2024