The New Orleans Saints gained a physical and aggressive player when they selected Northern Iowa tackle Trevor Penning with the 19th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Penning has lived up to that billing so far during training camp.
On Wednesday, various reports from Saints training camp indicated that Penning and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach were kicked out of the team’s practice for getting into a fight.
The fight was the third after-the-whistle altercation in as many days for Penning this week.
On Monday, Penning and 2021 first-round pick Payton Turner threw multiple punches at each other during what looked to be a scrimmage. In Tuesday’s practice, Penning and last season’s special teams captain J.T. Gray were involved in some extracurricular shoving after a play.
Speaking to reporters after practice, Saints first-year head coach Dennis Allen explained his decision to remove both players.
“We’ve got to learn as a team how to compete and how to play and how to practice and push ourselves to the limit,” Allen said. “But yet not take it over the edge.”
Penning was the only college offensive lineman in 2021 to be named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. The award is given to the national offensive player of the year.
While playing with an edge and a bit of a mean streak is a solid quality for a lineman to possess, Penning will likely have to learn to save that extra aggression for game days.
More must-reads: