August 22, 2016
During pregame warmups prior to the Philadelphia Eagles' second preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Eagles punter Donnie Jones punted a football that struck Caleb Sturgis in the head, leaving him with a concussion.
"We were just doing a normal warmup in the end zone, and I don't know, he was standing on the other side of the 50, probably. Maybe the 40 or 35. I guess I hit a really good one, and it caught him square on the head. I remember looking up and seeing it and then at the last minute – obviously I was like 60 yards away (and couldn't warn him) and it just hit him square in the head.
"He fell, and as soon as he fell, I was like 'Ah, sh*t,' and walked down there to see if he was OK. That's a freak deal, man. In all the years I've played, I've hit thousands of punts in pregame, and never concussed anyone."
"It didn't feel good," said Sturgis.
That wasn't the first time Jones hit a player during pregame warmups.
"We had an incident a couple years ago," said Jones. "We played Arizona. I hit one of their guys. It was a defensive back. I hit him on the shoulder, and then it escalated into a big shouting match."
Jones said he felt bad after it happened, but also noted that Sturgis shouldn't be holding any grudges.
"He's good now," said Jones. "Sh*t, he can't get too mad. He got a few extra days off."
Asked if Cody Parkey – Sturgis' competition for the kicker job – paid off Jones to injure him, Sturgis said, "If Donnie's that good..."
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