Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy stressed the importance of how "high quality" joint practices can be in the preseason ahead of his squad's first one with the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 8.
Aside from a couple brief skirmishes during that practice, no true fights broke out. The same was true for the second one between the Cowboys and Rams on Wednesday, but a Dallas player did get kicked out of practice nevertheless. Defensive tackle Albert Huggins, who is entering his sixth NFL year in the NFL in 2024 after being undrafted out of Clemson in 2019, apparently crossed the line Wednesday.
Huggins, who signed with Dallas a week ago on Aug. 7 in an effort for the Cowboys to have more depth behind projected defensive tackle starters Osa Odighizuwa and Mazi Smith, knocked down a Rams coaching intern who was acting like the quarterback in a pass-rush drill between Los Angeles' offensive line and the Cowboys' defensive line. One of the Rams offensive linemen said, via ESPN, "They [the Cowboys] don't want to practice." Huggins was told by the Dallas coaching staff to exit practice for the day after his aggression outside of the drill, per DallasCowboys.com.
McCarthy revealed that Huggins apologized for his behavior on Thursday, and that the team found his apology to be satisfactory.
"I wouldn't say it was a tiff, his behavior is unacceptable," McCarthy said Thursday, per The Dallas Morning News. "It's something that's been addressed, he has apologized. I'm comfortable with his apology."
After some of the Rams' players charged at Huggins, he gave those Los Angeles players the middle finger as he walked out of the scrum.
Rams coach Sean McVay didn't take the act of aggression from Huggins too well, and he briefly halted the drill to chat with everyone as well as to check in on the intern, according to The Athletic. Given Huggins has only been a Cowboy for a week after bouncing around the NFL with the Eagles (2019), Lions (2020), Saints (2021-2022) and Falcons (2023), he better be on his best behavior from here on out if he desires to earn either a 53-man roster spot or a practice squad spot with Dallas.
McCarthy called McVay after the incident to apologize on behalf of Huggins after doing so in person at practice.
"I was on the offensive side of the field when it happened," McCarthy said. "I had a chance to talk to [defensive coordinator] Mike Zimmer and Sean McVay and we removed him from practice. And frankly, when I saw the video a few hours later, I called Sean again and his response to me: 'You would have been proud, the way your coaches reacted.' I just wanted to make sure that behavior is not accepted. Emotional discipline. That's not what we're about. He clearly understands that."