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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Another day, another brawl at joint practices between the Detroit Lions and New York Giants at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
This time it centered around Giants first-round pick Malik Nabers. The rookie wide receiver, who caught 17 of 18 passes thrown in his direction during the two days of work with the Lions, began swinging along with Detroit safety Kerby Joseph late in Tuesday’s workout. It led to both teams running onto the field, pushing and shoving in what was the latest in a long line of on-field fights.
The two teams scuffled on multiple occasions during kickoff drills moments later and seemingly had to cut the final period short because of the skirmishes. That pretty much was the end of joint practices between the Lions and Giants. Both teams huddled up afterward and eventually made their way inside the facility and fieldhouse.
This all came after the first day of joint practices between the teams had eight or so scuffles. Lions coach Dan Campbell called that a “spirited practice” with some “rogue” players turning it into a football Royal Fumble. He admitted there was too much of it. After he talked with Giants coach Brian Daboll, they were hoping to eliminate the extracurriculars on Day 2.
For most of Tuesday’s practice, it appeared that Campbell and Daboll had nipped that problem in the bud — until the final 15 minutes or so.
That is when Nabers got into it with Joseph. The melee occurred after a rare incompletion in Nabers’ direction in the end zone with Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold in coverage in the red zone drill. Nabers and Arnold are friendly from their college days and had been matched up consistently during the joint practices.
As Nabers walked away from Arnold and out of the end zone, he encountered Joseph. They do not appear anywhere near as friendly. Nabers forcefully pushed away Joseph’s head to start the fight.
Moments later, as Joseph charged in Nabers’ direction, haymakers from both ensued.
“Someone comes up running to me, says a few words, the rest is that,” Nabers said.
The Giants and Lions meet in both teams’ preseason opener on Thursday at MetLife Stadium. It’s doubtful the bad blood will extend into that contest.
The two teams walked off the field at the end of Tuesday’s practice without incident. There didn’t seem to be any lingering animosity afterwards.
“It was a heated practice,” Nabers said. “Words are being said and stuff like that is going to happen.”
The Giants and Lions were hoping for a different result Tuesday. It was something the coaches brought up to the players beforehand.
At least from a New York perspective, their quarterback didn’t get involved this time around. Daniel Jones incited one of the Monday skirmishes. He and Lions quarterback Jared Goff stayed out of the mix Tuesday.
While neither team seemed overly concerned about the feistiness at either practice, it wasn’t what they had planned.
“[We] talked about cleaning a few things up that led to some of those things,” Daboll said before the second fight-filled day. “We’ll try to do a better job [Tuesday], but both sides were competitive, got a lot out of it.”