Joe Hawley cares not for rules; gets ejected from Falcons practice

Joe Hawley cares not for your silly rules.

The starting center for the Atlanta Falcons got into an altercation during a joint practice with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, and as a result, he was unceremoniously ejected from the proceedings. Multiple outlets are reporting that Hawley engaged in a spat with Titans safety Michael Griffin, and in addition to the latest incident that saw Hawley removed and backup Peter Konz inserted with the starting offensive line, the fifth-year player from UNLV has been “busy” during camp.

As reported by ESPN’s Vaughn McClure (and others), Joe Hawley was also highly involved in the fight that caused rookie Ra’Shede Hageman to throw a punch and injure his wrist and he has also engaged in extra-curricular activities with linebacker Jacques Smith. In short, Hawley has become a habitual line-stepper (hat-tip to Dave Chappelle), and he is apparently attempting to single-handedly bring an edge of toughness to Atlanta’s offensive line.

Frankly, I love this. Obviously, Hawley is going to have to rein it in a bit after this latest scuffle, but nastiness is something that is encouraged along the offensive line, and the Falcons showed virtually none of that attitude last season. The 25-year-old Hawley is an “eccentric” personality on and off field by all accounts (personal and otherwise), but as long as he plays as well as he did in split time during the 2013 campaign, all will be well.

God bless you, Joe Hawley.