Following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20-10 win over Los Angeles Chargers, S Derwin James was suspended for one game due to a helmet-to-helmet hit on TE Pat Freiermuth. That suspension was later upheld, which means James is out of the lineup for the Chargers’ big divisional matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4.
According to Pat McAfee via The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Freiermuth participated in the suspension appeal call with the league and vouched for James.
“I just got my sources. This is back to the Derwin James suspension. Breaking: Pat Freiermuth was on the appeal call and said he didn’t think it was a dirty hit,” McAfee said in a clip posted on X.
The hit in question came after a Freiermuth reception over the middle with James coming in and hitting the fourth–year veteran in the head and neck area to finish the tackle. It is shown in the below clip.
James was suspended anyway, so Freiermuth didn’t move the needle with the league office. But it is still an interesting nugget to hear that players don’t want to see others suspended for questionable plays like that.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was disappointed with the suspension. He thought Freiermuth caused the illegal contact with the way he was leaning in, saying he wasn’t a defenseless player in that situation.
Just before games kicked off on Sunday of Week 1, Adam Schefter reported that a memo went out to more than 20 players and their teams stating that further player-safety violations would result in suspensions. The list of players wasn’t announced, but Schefter reported that anybody who had recently been suspended or repeatedly fined for such violations likely received the memo.
Presumably Steelers S Damontae Kazee received that memo after being suspended last season for his hit on Indianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. It wasn’t exactly the same type of play that James was suspended for, but it’s slightly related with an impossible decision for the defender. With the way the receiver was angled, there was no easy way to avoid the head and neck area.
As the NFL works to make the game safer, these are unfortunately the types of suspensions that are going to pop up more and more moving forward. The onus often lies on the defender to avoid these plays, but more often than not that means not doing their job of trying to limit yards. It puts the defenders in a weird predicament. Apparently Freiermuth agrees with that assessment as he attempted to go to bat for James.
