The Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers could not wait until kickoff on Sunday to start shoving one another around.
A big scuffle broke out between the 49ers and Browns during pregame warmups in Cleveland. Niners wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk were at the center of the scrum. Aiyuk appeared to throw a swing at a Browns player before officials and coaches stepped in to separate the two teams.
Pregame fight just broke out at midfield between #Browns and #49ers. Officials rushed in to try to restore order pic.twitter.com/duEpzP8m9F
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) October 15, 2023
FOX Sports showed another angle of the confrontation. Things seem to escalate when Aiyuk was talking trash to Browns players and bumped into Cleveland safety Juan Thornhill. Samuel then came in and headbutted Thornhill.
Things are already getting heated between the Niners and Browns! pic.twitter.com/bclmLlA7IC
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 15, 2023
The game had not started yet, so there were no penalties assessed. NFL officials can eject players prior to kickoff if they feel it is warranted, but that did not happen in this case. The league will likely review the incident and could hand down fines, however.
The 2-2 Browns entered the game as a 9.5-point underdog against the undefeated 49ers, so they needed all the added motivation they could get.
