Panthers help police pursue charges against fan after fight
CHARLOTTE, N.C. » The Panthers say they’ve identified the Carolina fan who assaulted another fan during Thursday night’s game against the Eagles.
Panthers executive director of risk management Lance Emory said in a statement Friday the team is working with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department to “pursue charges to the fullest extent of the law, “though the team did not release the names of the people involved.
A video released on social media showed a fan wearing a Cam Newton jersey standing up and punching a fan seated behind him in the face four times, bloodying his face before others stepped in to stop him. The fan who delivered the punches left before security arrived.
Emory says the Panthers “are committed to a fan-friendly and family-friendly stadium experience” and said the behavior is “unacceptable and will not be condoned.”
49ers release linebacker NaVorro Bowman
SANTA CLARA » The San Francisco 49ers cut ties with one of the few remaining links to their last run of success when they released linebacker NaVorro Bowman on Friday.
General manager John Lynch said the team looked into possible trade partners and came close to completing one. But when that fell through, the team granted Bowman’s request and released him.
“It became evident that going in different directions was best for both him and our team,” Lynch said. “Although NaVorro may be moving on, he will always be looked at as one of the great players to wear the red and gold. We wish him and his family great success.”
Bowman originally joined the 49ers as a third-round pick in 2010 and quickly formed one of the league’s best linebacking duos with Patrick Willis. The two were key to San Francisco’s run of three straight trips to the NFC title game and one Super Bowl appearance. The only players remaining in San Francisco who played in that Super Bowl following the 2012 season are left tackle Joe Staley, center Daniel Kilgore and tight end Garrett Celek.
Bowman earned first team AllPro honors four times in his career, achieving it from 2011-13 and then again in 2015 after coming back from a devastating knee injury. Bowman then tore his Achilles tendon early last season and missed most of the year before coming back again this year.
Titan: Bad choice to tweet he’d quit over anthem rule
NASHVILLE, TENN. » Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews says he made a bad decision on Twitter to threaten to quit if the NFL institutes a new rule mandating players stand for the national anthem.
Asked Friday if he stands by that initial statement, Matthews said “not right now.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that,” Matthews said. “I know the owners got a meeting next (week). Let’s just hope we don’t get to that.”
Matthews quickly deleted the tweet Thursday before practice, but his comments had been caught by a screen grab. “Sometimes people, as you all know, tweet some ignorant things out at some moments, and that was an ignorant thing I tweeted out at that given moment,” Matthews said.
One of the Titans’ starting receivers, Matthews has stayed in the locker room during the anthem through the last two games.
His father is a retired master sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, and his half brother also served in the Marines before being killed in Afghanistan in October 2015 as a private defense contractor.