NFL Kickoff Week: Who can top Vontaze Burfict for flagrant personal foul ejections in 2016?

Welcome to the Yardbarker NFL Roundtable, a place where our most fervent football contributors can kickback, relax and look at the fun (and sometimes not-so-fun) parts of the biggest league in America; the massive behemoth that is the National Football League. Don't forget to check out part I and part II.

2016 kicks off for the Cincinnati Bengals minus one temperamental linebacker for three games, Vontaze Burfict, who is serving a league suspension for repeated violations of player safety rules. Head coach Marvin Lewis  won't even talk about him, Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has spent the preseason reminding his squad their 2015 season ended prematurely for "being stupid." For his part, Burfict is saying all the right things about his suspension (and still hating the Steelers) while laying low and helping his younger sister settled into her college dorm room while the rest of the league prepares for opening weekend. 

If there is one thing though the NFL needs every season for its weekly on-field drama, it's another villain. So we asked our panelists: 

Who can challenge Vontaze Burfict for two flagrant personal foul ejections, or do you expect to see a decline in ejections this season?

Demetrius Bell

Josh Norman is now in the same division as Odell Beckham Jr., so now those two will have multiple chances to show each other just how much they appreciate the other. With that being said, I'm hoping that there will be a decline in ejections this year. Surely all of the (competent) coaching staffs across the league saw what happened at the end of that Steelers-Bengals playoff game and let them know that you can lose a game due to taking stupid penalties/ejections, so there's that.

Daniel Tran

People like to (rightfully) point a finger at Ndamukong Suh's rough reputation, but one of the most penalized players in terms of personal fouls is Jerry Hughes of the Buffalo Bills. Under the aggressive tutelage Rex Ryan, Hughes was at the top of the NFL with five personal foul penalties to his name. If you want to watch someone on ejection watch, Hughes will be your man.

Phillip Barnett

It's hard to imagine a single player having more than two personal foul ejections over a 16-game season – a 3rd would essentially mean the player was ejected from 19 percent of the games he participated in. If I had to put money on one player, it would be Brandon Browner, though. After leaving Seattle, he's looked like a completely different corner. Last season he racked up over $17,000 in fines and was flagged 24 times –the most since in a single season since the NFL started recording the stat in 1999. Browner, without the help of the rest of the Legion of Boom, has resorted into the most illegal of tactics to stay with his assignments on the other side of the ball. Look for facemask penalties and unnecessary roughness fouls to get him kicked out of one-two-maybe-three games this season.

Mike Tunison

Cortland Finnegan is still magically on a roster, so he's a good bet. Ditto recently cleared of being PED users, James Harrison and Clay Matthews. Also since he helped inspire this rule and has only developed a deeper love for trash talk, Josh Norman. I don't think there will be all that many examples of it this season, though.

Sam Greszes

I expect to see fewer ejections this season, but since I root for chaos, I hope to see more. Now, having said that, I really doubt that anyone can take break Burfict's record this year, though I will say that since his dirty hit on Antonio Brown directly led to the Bengals getting eliminated in the playoffs, maybe he'll have toned things down a bit this season.

Shiloh Carder 

Tampa Bay's William Gholston tied Burfict for unnecessary roughness penalties last season so he's a prime candidate. As for the league as a whole, I don't think there's been a tremendous amount of personal foul ejections or that the refs have a quick trigger on tossing players.

Joe Boland

Can I say Pacman? I want to say Pacman. But really, I just don't see anyone challenging Burfict here. I would say James Harrison, but he doesn't see the field enough anymore, so I'll say ejections remain flat, and Burfict leads the league, adding ejection to his season-starting suspension.

Jamie Neal

I expect to see a decline in ejections this season. Call it hope or call it blind faith, but these guys play a game for a living, and while passion and intensity are required traits to be successful, so is the ability to maintain composure in high stress situations. Here's to hoping the position coaches and head coaches have had a chance to preach this notion. (And if not, Burfict will walk away with the ejection crown).

David Matthews

Provided he gets onto a team at some point this year, my answer's Brandon Browner. The Legion of Boom is once again no more, but goodness me do I think Brandon Browner's vicious. Certainly someone can use a Derrick Rose-sized asshole in their defensive backfield. Someone should sign him if only to keep him from beating up civilians.

Vincent Frank

I'm not too sure anyone can challenge Burfict this season. Though, it really wouldn't be a surprise to see Josh Norman and/or Odell Beckham Jr. each get ejected in a game against one another this season. 

Really. Could the NFL gods have made this any more perfect for those of us who love the high intensity of rivalries around the league? Now with the Washington Redskins, Norman will be going up against his most-heated rival twice per season. That's going to lead to some major fireworks in the NFC East. 

In all, it's hard to really project what might happen here. Short of the NFL deciding harsher penalties for ejections should exist, we're going to continue seeing them. Whether the total number will be less than last season is anyone's guess.