Vontaze Burfict has accepted a role with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, marking his first step into coaching since his final game in 2019 with the Oakland Raiders, although fans aren’t too happy with the news.
The former NFL linebacker has a history of perceived dangerous on-field conduct and the 33-year-old will join as the UNLV’s defensive analyst, working under their new head coach, Dan Mullen, and interim defensive coordinator, Paul Guenther.
The latter actually coached him during his time with both the Cincinnati Bengals and Raiders and while he has never formally retired from professional football, multiple concussions and injuries make a return improbable.
Regardless of his prospects of playing professional football again, the reaction to his hiring has been polarised as some welcome the appointment as a chance for Burfict to pass on his defensive knowledge, but others condemned the decision.
CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli wrote on X.com, formerly Twitter, “Take the over on UNLV personal fouls in 2025, y’all.”
Whilst another critic said, “If anyone should not be teaching young men how to play football, it’s Vontaze Burfict.”
Burfict’s playing days were marked by exceptional talent but equally by a reputation for excessive aggression, and one of the most infamous moments came in the 2016 NFL playoffs, when he delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit that left Antonio Brown concussed.
The blow to the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ wide receiver drew a three-game suspension to start the following season and he was widely condemned by the league for the play, considered to be unnecessarily endangering the player.
“That’s pathetic,” Steelers lineman Marcus Gilbert said at the time. “A guy like that, going out there intentionally trying to hurt people… it’s sad.”
Whilst Brown himself remarked, “We already play a dangerous sport… you don’t want anything like that to happen to a player, no matter what team you play for. We have to protect each other.”
The controversies didn’t end there. In 2019, shortly after joining the Raiders, Burfict was ejected for another helmet-to-helmet hit, this time on the Indianapolis Colts’ tight end, Jack Doyle. The NFL suspended him for the rest of the season.
UNLV’s new era under Mullen
Burfict’s arrival coincides with Mullen’s first year at UNLV, where the program has undergone a dramatic transformation as the Rebels have welcomed 26 transfers from Power Four schools, with Mullen emphasising culture-building and competition over reputation.
The intake has been so great that even Jake Pope, the team’s junior defensive back, admitted he was initially concerned about integrating so many newcomers despite playing for the Alabama Athletics previously.
“That was probably the fastest thing that happened,” Pope said. “I like the culture we have created… it surprised me, but I’m really glad things panned out that way.”
Other players such as defensive end Chief Borders, who previously played for Florida, Nebraska, and Pittsburgh, are expected to compete for every snap rather than rely on past credentials.
This news was originally published on this post .
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