CINCINNATI — The NFL Players Association is reviewing an incident involving a fan and Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown after Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
As Cincinnati players left the field at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, it appeared that a drink had been poured on Brown by someone in the stands late in the 34-24 victory of the Bengals.
After the video was posted on social media, the incident was reported to NFLPA and league officials, according to Michael Thomas, the players association’s chief player officer.
“We’ll see if we can identify the person and then we’ll go from there,” Thomas told ESPN on Monday. “But that should never happen to a player.”
Bengals center Ted Karras, the team’s lead player representative for the NFLPA, said the video will be reviewed to gather more information. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN the league is looking into the matter.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Brown said he was throwing his gloves to one of the fans standing above the entrance to the visitors’ tunnel after the team’s first win of the season.
The second-year player recorded his first NFL rushing touchdown in the win over the Panthers, and added a second later in the game for the first multi-touchdown day of his career.
Brown said he was looking forward to celebrating in the locker room before the incident.
“I entered [and] I smelled the liquid or something, and then when I watched the video again, I was like, ‘Damn, that’s really what happened,'” Brown said.
Karras recalls a drink-throwing incident that occurred in 2017 while he was playing for the New England Patriots. Offensive lineman David Andrews was pelted with a drink allegedly intended for quarterback Tom Brady.
Fans found responsible for unruly conduct at NFL games may face sanctions, including a possible lifetime ban.
“It was ridiculous,” Karras told ESPN Monday of what happened to Brown in Carolina. “We can’t have that. It puts the players at risk.”
Brown said he wasn’t bothered enough at the time to confront the fan in that situation, but he doesn’t want something similar to happen in the future.
“Please don’t pour us drinks,” Brown said. “I mean, no one wants that.”
